


alabaster sky

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: ALT TITLE: Edelgard learns how to communicate, Alternate Universe, Edelgard-centric AU shit yayyy, Gen, aaaand edelgard was right btw, dimitri's flimsy ass character motivation is fixed, edelgard and claude are allowed to be friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-07 04:04:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21451744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Royalty, nobility, commonfolk - everyone in Fódlan had simply been born into who they were. Children had been cast from their families for not having a Crest, or pushed and prodded until they crumbled under the pressure for having one, all because of the simple fact of their birth.It was possible that Dimitri, too, understood this on some level. Edelgard had always seen him as being the perfect Crown Prince, the epitome of Faerghus nobility - but perhaps that was simply an obligation to him.(AKA: a fifth route, where the lords don't have rocks for brains and decide to fight together, rather than fighting each other.)
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Edelgard von Hresvelg, Dorothea Arnault & Edelgard von Hresvelg, Edelgard von Hresvelg & Claude von Riegan, Edelgard von Hresvelg & Hubert von Vestra, Edelgard von Hresvelg & My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 29
Kudos: 220





	1. three houses

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is pre-timeskip and adheres mostly to canon, basically just sets the whole thing up (in wayyyy too many words), but some preliminary notes to help follow the rest of it more closely:
> 
> \- This route is sort of a mashup of all three routes during timeskip. So all the lords' individual trajectories mostly follow those of their own routes - Dimitri's is AM, Edelgard's is CF (with the notable difference of Cornelia rising to power in the Kingdom and Rhea/Dimitri missing), Claude's is VW.  
\- Basically, during the timeskip era of this route, Edelgard is at a stalemate with the Alliance and is mostly successfully conquering the Kingdom but she's like not happy about it (for reasons that will be explained)  
\- I just really want all three of the lords to like. Talk. And realize that they all literally believe in the same thing  
\- And if there's something in the plot that doesn't make perfect sense or seems underexplained or whatever, well, Intsys does the same thing so I am allowed to as well (but yeah seriously feel free to leave comments for clarification or to make me realize that something slipped my mind)

_ Great Tree Moon, 1180 _

Edelgard had never liked swords. They had always felt too light, too pliable in her hands, requiring too much restraint and finesse for her to feel truly comfortable wielding them. Still, she was always diligent with her sword training, as was required of a Lord such as herself. Her father had insisted she take it seriously, lest she be embarrassed by “lesser nobles and commoners” when she arrived at Garreg Mach.

She had spent the entire day on edge as she and her Alliance and Kingdom counterparts, Claude and Dimitri, travelled back to the monastery after a short diplomatic visit to the Alliance-Empire border at the Great Bridge of Myrddin. It was her father that had invited the three of them there to meet him and forge friendly ties before the academic year began. He had also insisted on sending a small number of Empire soldiers to escort them back, something that could, Edelgard thought in annoyance, very easily interfere with her plans.

They set up camp just outside Remire Village, and as they ate dinner Edelgard pondered how to get the two of them away from the soldiers. After everything had been cleared away, she suggested that they find an open space nearby in which to do some extra sword training, as was befitting those of their status. It was a mercy that neither Claude nor Dimitri was aware of her distaste for the weapon.

“It’s silly that we should have to train with swords just because it’s _ tradition _for Lords when all of us favor something else, isn’t it?” Claude remarked as the three of them broke away from the small encampment and headed deeper into the forest to find a suitable place to train. “I say if it’s less efficient to do something, why do it at all?”

“Claude, the reason we are here is to learn to be well-rounded leaders, so that we may develop the necessary skills to serve our countries when the time comes,” Dimitri replied sharply, earning a spectacular eyeroll from Claude. Edelgard, walking a step behind the two of them, suppressed a laugh.

“That ‘serve our countries’ nonsense,” Claude scoffed, shaking his head. “I’d be able to serve my country ten times better with a bow than with a sword. It’s just because of some dusty old tradition and you know it. No offense, Princess.”

“Why on Earth would I take offense to that?” Edelgard asked incredulously as they ducked under a low branch to find themselves in a clearing roughly the size of a training ground. Claude shrugged, beginning to pace the clearing to test its dimensions.

“You’re the one who suggested we do this,” he said, unsheathing his sword and swinging it absentmindedly. “I only assumed it was because you hold tradition and the standards of nobility in high regard, or something of that kind.”

Edelgard swallowed a protest, paranoid all of a sudden that any rebuttal to Claude’s assumptions would give her ambitions away. “You don’t know me that well, then.”

“No, I don’t – _ yet _,” Claude said, winking. “This seems to be a fine place to train. Dimitri?”

“No complaints,” Dimitri replied, dropping his lance on the ground and rolling his shoulders back. “Edelgard, would you like to start?”

“No, you two go ahead,” Edelgard said, perching on a fallen log with her sword resting in her lap. She fidgeted with the hem of her shorts as Dimitri and Claude began to warm up, mind beginning to race at the thought of the bandits who were no doubt on their way to their location right now. She prided herself on her composure under pressure, but being in such close proximity to two people she had essentially ordered a group of bandits to assassinate had her feeling tense.

The sharp _ clang _ of metal against metal brought Edelgard back to the present as Dimitri’s and Claude’s blades met. All three of their preferred weapons lay discarded at her feet. She had seen Claude hit faraway targets one by one without breaking a sweat, had witnessed Dimitri duck and weave past opponents while wielding his lance as though it was an extension of his body. There was none of that easy mastery in the way the two of them fought now, both looking noticeably out of their element. She noted a tension in Claude’s shoulders and an uncertainty in Dimitri’s footing that was never there normally. 

Edelgard couldn’t fault them for it. She was sure she looked like this when forced to pick up a sword, too. They couldn’t help what they were born into, after all.

There was the faint sound of heavy footsteps nearby and Edelgard set her jaw, nudged her axe closer to her with her foot so that she could grab it easily when she fled. She focused on her plan, which was to goad the two of them into staying and fighting, even if greatly outnumbered (which they would be). In the meantime she would slip away and return to the camp.

In front of her, Dimitri looked distracted all of a sudden, giving Claude enough of an opening to knock him to the ground.

“Ha! Looks like you need more training, your Highness,” Claude said gleefully, holding his sword against Dimitri’s neck.

“No, wait,” Dimitri protested, pushing Claude’s sword aside and sitting up. “I heard something.”

“Don’t make excuses, it’s unbecoming,” Claude said with faux self-importance, still unaware of what was happening around them.

“Stop being glib for one second and listen,” Dimitri snapped as he got to his feet. “I heard something nearby.”

Claude frowned, sheathing his sword. “Are you sure?”

Dimitri nodded quickly, moving to retrieve his lance from where it lay. For a frantic moment Edelgard considered kicking it away to delay him, but quickly thought better of it (monumentally flawed idea, anyway). She stood as well, picking up her axe and slowly beginning to back away. Claude jogged over to pick up his bow, still looking like he didn’t quite believe what Dimitri was saying.

Edelgard turned in the direction they’d come from, but before she could make her getaway, Kostas, the leader of the bandits, burst out of the bushes, flanked by his lackeys.

“Ah, Noble scum,” Kostas growled. The group of bandits advanced slowly, forcing Edelgard to move back. As she walked she silently cursed Kostas’ name for obstructing her way out. _ Really should have given him more direction. _

“You’ll die today,” the bandit leader said, sneering at the three of them. Dimitri – bless him and his stupid, chivalrous, princely upbringing – stepped in front of Edelgard, holding his lance aloft. It was almost enough to make her laugh out loud. As though _ he _ needed to protect _ her. _

“If you try to harm us, I guarantee you will regret it,” Dimitri warned. Edelgard quietly strapped her axe to her back, ready to break away and run for it once the fighting began.

“I don’t think we have a choice here,” she said grimly, glancing to her left at Claude. “We’re going to have to f–”

“Like hell we don’t,” Claude exclaimed, slinging his bow over his shoulder. “I’m outta here!”

To Edelgard’s surprise, Claude appeared to have no problem with abandoning honor and valor and all those values they were supposed to embody as Lords. He turned, leapt over the log she’d been sitting on, and disappeared into the trees.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Edelgard said.

Dimitri looked over at her uncertainly. “Should we follow?”

Edelgard had no choice. “Yes.”

They both took off in the same direction, Dimitri knocking aside branches with his lance and Edelgard beginning to ruminate on how her plan had failed so spectacularly. She had not anticipated the bandits blocking off her only clear path of escape. She had _ certainly _ not anticipated Claude immediately running away. 

She wasn’t totally sure where they were going, only that the bandits had yelled out and begun pursuing them. Her axe felt heavy on her back as they ran. She could hear the rapid footsteps behind them, distant though they were.

Eventually, just as she was beginning to feel fatigued, they burst through the trees and into an open area that Edelgard recognized as part of Remire Village. Claude was there, catching his breath and surveying the area. He turned when they approached, an unbearably smug smirk coming to his face despite the circumstances.

“Ah, so you decided to come too,” he said. “Upholding the noble principle of valor is not so important as staying alive, after all.”

“You’re an idiot,” Edelgard said.

“Agreed,” said Dimitri.

“Alright, alright, but this idiot’s plan of booking it kept you alive, so be grateful,” Claude replied, putting his hands on his hips. “It looks like there are mercenaries over there – how fortunate! They might be able to help us.”

“I suppose that is our best bet,” Dimitri said, glancing over at Edelgard. She looked back and nodded.

Now mercenaries were getting involved. More than ever Edelgard was thankful nobody who knew her to be the Flame Emperor had been made aware of this plan, which seemed to have gone catastrophically wrong. She would reprimand Kostas for this later.

The three of them made their way over to the small house at the edge of the village and were met by a mercenary whose helmet obstructed his face, who seemed confused at their request but said he would go and fetch “the Captain” anyway. He returned with two people in tow: a stern-looking man with a furrowed brow who towered above all of them, and a younger person with dark hair and a faraway expression.

Edelgard scrutinized both of them as Claude and Dimitri explained the situation, and found herself particularly intrigued by the look that the younger mercenary had about them. The way they glanced around at her and her companions was off-putting, but in a way that caught her attention. She had never been in contact with mercenaries before, and wondered if they were all so curious.

The armored mercenary returned to them shortly and reported that the bandits had arrived at the village, to which the tall man sighed.

“We can’t abandon this village now,” he said resignedly, turning to the person on his left. “Come on, let’s move. Hope you’re ready.”

He turned his attention back to the three of them, and Edelgard could tell that he recognized their uniforms, although she didn’t think he knew exactly who the three of them were.

“Judging by the weapons, you all can fight, I presume?”

“No problem,” Claude said cheerily, cracking his knuckles before taking his bow in hand. Edelgard took her axe out, still miffed at how poorly the night had gone. The next attempt would have to be better.

Day was breaking as they approached the monastery. Edelgard squinted in the bright sunlight, looking up at the towers and arches that had grown so familiar to her in just a few weeks. The academic year had yet to begin, but it was customary for students to arrive at least a month in advance to acquaint themselves with the monastery and get to know the others in their Houses. It had been a short trip but she was anxious to return to her Black Eagles - specifically Hubert, who was the only person at the monastery she could confide in about her ambitions.

(She didn’t think he needed to know about the shoddy assassination attempt, though. Some things were better left unsaid.)

Dimitri and Claude wasted no time in splitting off from the group once they arrived, both tossing out perfunctory “goodbye”s and disappearing to the dorms. She followed their example, taking some time to formally thank the Empire soldiers for escorting them back before hurrying off to the Black Eagles’ classroom. As she rounded the corner into the courtyard she spared one final look back at Captain Jeralt and his apparent child, Byleth, who looked nothing like their father.

How odd a pair the two of them were. Edelgard hoped this would not be the last she saw of them. She had a feeling that they were going to make things much more interesting.

When she entered the classroom she was met by a gasp of “Edie!” from Dorothea, whom Edelgard had only known for a month but who had already graduated to calling her by an affectionate nickname. She had never been one for nicknames, but Dorothea had been so excited about it that she found herself unable to veto it.

“Hello, Dorothea,” Edelgard replied, smiling as the other students in the classroom gathered around her. “No need to make a fuss, I’ve only been gone five days.”

“We missed you,” Dorothea insisted, looking around at everyone. “So much has happened since you left!”

Edelgard frowned. “Really? Like what?”

“Like how I tried to do a handstand,” Caspar offered.

“Oh,” Edelgard said. “Did you… succeed?”

“Nope!” Caspar said proudly.

“And I have been trying different kinds of Fódlan food for the first time,” Petra chimed in. “Some of it is very good! But some other food tastes poorly. I find that there is not many - ah, not_ much _flavor.”

“I told you that you can add it yourself when you go to the dining hall,” Linhardt mumbled.

“Well, people of Fódlan should not be creating food with insufficient flavor,” Petra said sharply.

“Okay, so maybe it’s not the most _ interesting _ of news,” Dorothea cut in, shaking her head and laughing quietly. “But the point is that we missed you. I hope your trip was alright?”

“It was fine,” Edelgard said, waving the question off. “Uneventful.” 

She was oddly touched that these people she had only known for a month were so eager to include her in their youthful nonsense, even given her royal status. She had come into this fully aware that she would have to get rid of any emotional ties she might have when the time came to put her plans in motion, but they were making it awfully difficult to keep thinking of that possibility.

Hubert sidled up to her as the group began to disperse again. “Welcome back, lady Edelgard. Hopefully the trip afforded you some information on the other House leaders that could be useful in defeating them.”

“I can’t say that it did,” Edelgard said, slipping her gloves off and glancing up at him. “Not everything is about defeating your opponents, you know.”

“Well, that,” Hubert said, “is just not true.”

* * *

_ Wyvern Moon, 1180 _

Before the year began, Edelgard could never have imagined ceding strategic leadership of her troops to anyone else, least of all a wandering mercenary. But here they were, at Gronder Field, and it was Byleth who stood to her side beneath the Black Eagle banner, ready to lead everyone into battle. The students stood ready as Edelgard glanced behind to make sure they were all in the formation they had practiced. Ferdinand saluted her. Dorothea shot her a wink. She smiled encouragingly back at them, against her better judgment.

It was times like this that Edelgard felt a little sad, a little wistful already, for the life she would soon have to leave behind. She couldn’t be sure that any of the people around her, sans Hubert, would follow her, when the time came - and so she couldn’t let herself become too attached. Not even Byleth, she thought with a pang of dismay, was guaranteed to walk her path with her. They were a powerful ally to her now, and would no doubt be an even more fearsome foe, should their paths diverge.

The battle was difficult, with Dimitri’s cavalry and flying troops turning out to be more of an issue than Edelgard had anticipated, but with Byleth’s steady guidance and Edelgard’s steadier axe, they managed to cut themselves a path to victory. She didn’t think she’d ever seen the members of her House so happy as they celebrated. Claude, nursing his wounds to the side, let out a loud, overdramatic groan.

When Edelgard caught up to Byleth after the fight was over, they were smiling. The sight took her by surprise.

“Why, Professor,” she said, taken aback. “This is the first time I’ve seen you smile.”

“We did well,” they replied, nodding sagely. “You were very impressive today.”

“So were you,” Edelgard said. She let go for a moment and allowed herself to smile, too. Something about the sight of Byleth expressing joy, when they usually appeared so distant and so serious, made her feel strangely okay with letting down her guard. Hubert would probably disapprove, but she didn’t care.

They returned to the monastery in the early hours of the morning, three days later. In the afternoon Byleth was conducting a quick review of the House’s performance during the recent mock battle when Claude threw open the doors of their classroom and marched in, looking as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

“Oh, sorry, Teach, am I interrupting?”

“Yes,” Byleth said.

“Sorry!” Claude said cheerfully. “Just wanted to remind everyone that there’s going to be a feast in the dining hall tonight in you guys’ honor. Let me know before sundown what you want the main course to be - it’s your victory dinner, after all. And bring whoever you want!”

He was gone as quickly and abruptly as he arrived, sweeping out of the room with a toss of his cape. Edelgard looked back at Byleth uncertainly. “Well, we _ did _say that we would be okay with it.”

“Yes, I suppose we did,” Byleth replied, putting their hands on their hips. “Now, to business…”

“Right,” Edelgard said. “I wanted to ask you about the optimal pathing that our cavalry should have taken against the Blue Lions’ formation?”

“Oh,” Byleth said. “I meant that we should discuss what we wanted the main course to be. But, no, of course, the cavalry - ”

“Wait, I want to talk about the food thing first,” Caspar interjected from the back of the classroom. “Because _ I _think we should pick Gronder meat skewers - they’re delicious, and they’re thematically appropriate. Right? Any objections?”

“Oh, Caspar, that’s far too indulgent for a main course, and not everyone likes meat as much as you,” Dorothea responded. “We should have vegetable stir fry. It’s nutritious _ and _delicious, and the dining hall does it wonderfully!”

“I am agreeing with Dorothea,” Petra said.

“Are you kidding me?” Caspar said heatedly, already half-yelling. “The most boring dish in all of Fódlan?! It’s okay to be indulgent once in a while - ”

The rest of the session was taken up by what Linhardt would refer to as “spirited debate”. Eventually they settled it by drawing numbers out of a hat, leaving Bernadetta with the final decision. Though she very nearly fainted under the pressure, her choice of two-fish saute - “a signature dish of Enbarr, very nice,” Hubert remarked - proved satisfactory for everyone. The discussion of cavalry movements was quite forgotten by the time Byleth dismissed the class, commending them all on a job well done.

Though she feigned exasperation at the lack of productivity, Edelgard found the rabble very amusing. She had had siblings at one time, after all, and though they were no longer with her, being around her classmates when they were like this reminded her of what it had been like growing up in such an active household. It was like having a big family again. She was surprised to find that the reminder didn’t make her as sad as it used to anymore.

True to Claude’s word, the feast was exceptionally ordinary, save for two girls dumping their drinks over Sylvain’s head (which was only unusual because normally it happened one at a time). Edelgard could tell that her classmates noticed her being more withdrawn than usual, and were making concerted efforts to engage her in the fun. She found herself unwilling to engage in the festivities - plagued, as she always was, with thoughts about how this couldn’t possibly last. Hubert stayed by her side for much of the evening, and she was grateful for his steady presence, but he retired to bed early, saying that the journey back that morning had taken a toll on him.

As the feast wound down, Edelgard split off from the group of students returning to the dorms and took a detour to the greenhouse. There was a particular magic to being in the greenhouse at night. Though there was a rule against bringing torches in, fireflies always, inexplicably, made their way inside. The little light they brought wasn’t great, of course, but it allowed you to see your hand in front of your face, and sometimes that was enough. Edelgard liked to think that they flitted in every night because they knew they were needed. She liked to think that everything, even fireflies, had a reason.

Whenever Edelgard felt she needed to relax after a particularly overwhelming day, this was where she came. She usually never met anyone else there at night. Occasionally Dedue would be around, tending to his plants, but they never spoke past cursory greetings. He always made sure to leave her alone as soon as possible. She could tell that he recognized her need to be alone whenever she was there.

It wasn’t Dedue in the greenhouse tonight when she entered. Much to her surprise, it was the golden-haired prince of Faerghus himself, bent over Dedue’s plot of soil and muttering something to himself. Edelgard dawdled by the doorway at the sight, strongly considering leaving to avoid an awkward encounter, but the noise of the door creaking open alerted Dimitri to her presence. He spun around, looking mortified for no reason.

“E - Edelgard,” he said, getting to his feet quickly. Fireflies danced in front of his face. “I was just helping, er. I was helping water these plants for Dedue. He was feeling unwell today, and, um, wasn’t able to come himself.”

Edelgard raised an eyebrow, finding it very amusing that he was so flustered over such a mundane act. “And he let you do this for him? My, he must _ really _ be unwell.”

Dimitri scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. “Well, he told me how much to water each one, and I… forgot, so I’ve been guessing. I’m not very good at this stuff. I hope I got it right.”

“That’s not good,” Edelgard said solemnly. “You must learn gardening, Dimitri. Otherwise I’m afraid you’ll never become a well-rounded leader with the necessary skills to serve your country.”

Dimitri’s face twisted into a pout, and Edelgard resisted the urge to laugh at him. Perhaps she was just feeling especially fickle today, or perhaps it was the lack of an audience, but regardless, it felt good to speak to Dimitri alone, unfettered by the pressure of having to maintain her royal image. A part of her thought that he might be the same.

“I’m only joking,” she said, moving forward to perch on the edge of the plot that she knew to belong to Bernadetta. “I’m sure that you’ll make a fine King someday, gardening or no gardening.”

_ And I dread the day that we must meet on the battlefield, _she added in her head, twining her fingers together tightly in her lap.

Dimitri hovered around her awkwardly, watering can lying forgotten behind him. She could tell he didn’t know whether to sit, continue to stand, or leave her alone, and rolled her eyes at his indecision. Still his royal upbringing was holding him hostage, even when the only person present was her - one of the three people in all of Fódlan who understood what it was like.

“Sit down if you wish, Dimitri,” Edelgard said. “Otherwise leave. I have no preference.”

Looking as though he still felt a sense of duty to keep her company, as a gentleman, Dimitri sat opposite her, looking awkward as he tapped his feet, knees drawn up nearly to his chest.

“It’s strange,” he said suddenly. “Thinking about becoming King.”

Edelgard was silent for a moment. “Strange how?”

“I don’t know,” Dimitri mumbled, staring down at his shoes intently. He sounded like he was struggling to find the words. “Sometimes I think that I’m not supposed to be.”

“Of course you are,” Edelgard said, and Dimitri shook his head.

“I think I was born to be King, but that’s... the only thing about me,” he said, picking at his fingernails. “My birth. Like there’s someone else out there who’s meant to become King but they weren’t born into it, so instead… it’s me.”

Edelgard didn’t know what to say. The sudden flood of emotional honesty was surprising, yes, but what he said also rang oddly true to her. It reminded her of the things she had spoken of to Hubert for years, about how royalty, nobility, commonfolk - everyone in Fódlan had simply been born into who they were. Children had been cast from their families for not having a Crest, or pushed and prodded until they crumbled under the pressure for having one, all because of the simple fact of their birth.

It was possible that Dimitri, too, understood this on some level. She had always seen him as being (annoyingly) the perfect Crown Prince, the epitome of Faerghus nobility - but perhaps that was simply an obligation to him.

He looked increasingly more nervous in the face of her silence and ducked his head, no doubt frantically thinking about how to rectify the situation. They were, ostensibly, the future leaders of rival territories, after all, and revealing his personal insecurities to her was as good as revealing the insecurities of a nation. Edelgard felt that she had to ease his anxiety somehow.

“I understand how you feel,” she said quietly. “But this is the hand we’ve been dealt, so we have to use it well.”

“I - I know,” Dimitri said, sounding a little less frantic. “Sometimes I think about how I might be much happier without any of this, and then I feel ungrateful for it.”

“I don’t think you’re alone,” Edelgard said. There were fireflies darting around her head, twinkling in the low light. She could barely see Dimitri’s face but she could tell that he was still uncertain. “The system of nobility demands that the circumstances of our births dictate our lives. Obviously there are people who don’t agree with it.”

Dimitri looked like he had more to say, but he stopped himself before he could blurt it out, getting to his feet quickly and clearing his throat. Edelgard couldn’t blame him. They were siblings - perhaps they were even something close to being friends - but the weight of the Kingdom still rested heavy on his shoulders. She was still, in his eyes, something to be wary of. He was the same to her.

“I would appreciate it if, um...” he started to say before trailing off. 

Edelgard nodded regardless. She knew what he meant. She would do him the favor of not mentioning this to anyone else. It would become something just for herself, although he couldn’t possibly have any idea what it meant to her.

“Thank you,” Dimitri said, straightening his back and bowing to her. “Goodnight, Edelgard.”

“Goodnight, Dimitri,” she replied.

* * *

_ Pegasus Moon, 1180 _

“Is it proceeding as planned, Hubert?”

“Yes, lady Edelgard,” Hubert said. “The students of all three classes have departed for the Holy Tomb. The entrance will be exposed for us to enter.”

“Excellent,” Edelgard said grimly, putting on her Flame Emperor mask. Her heart was pounding but her conviction did not waver. “Alert the soldiers. The time has come.”

Edelgard had always dreaded having to face her professor in battle, but never more than now, when they had seemingly been newly endowed with the goddess’ power. She thought back to everything she’d ever learned, drew upon the hours she had spent in the training grounds, but still, she was no match for Byleth. The Relic they wielded nearly sliced Edelgard’s axe in half and as she stumbled, her professor stepped forward and knocked her mask off her face.

Edelgard gasped involuntarily as the mask was knocked aside, instinctively lifting her hand to hide her features but quickly realizing it was pointless. The Empire soldiers, along with her absence among the students, were a dead giveaway. They had not needed to unmask her to know who she was.

Behind Byleth, she saw Claude, standing and looking at her with his jaw clenched. Then -

“Edelgard - El. What is this?”

Her heart clenched in her chest at the sound of that nickname, spoken in a voice that was both strange and painfully familiar to her. She turned to see Dimitri, his lance limp at his side as he stared at her in shock.

“I’m sorry, Dimitri,” she said, and she could tell that Hubert was standing tense at her shoulder. “It’s what needs to be done.”

Dimitri looked at a loss for words. “You - desecrating the goddess’ tomb? Declaring war on the Church of Seiros? _ This _is what needs to be done?”

“The Church, Crests, nobility,” Edelgard said, stepping forward. “They have poisoned Fódlan for far too long. Only by ridding the world of these things can we achieve unity. You must know that. I _ know _ you know that.”

“Don’t,” Dimitri said fiercely, his eyes stormy.

Edelgard held his gaze for a moment longer, searching for a hint of understanding, of what he had confided in her those few months ago. She found only confusion and ragged uncertainty. She wished she could explain. He would understand, if she could only explain.

“Enough!”

Rhea’s booming voice rang out through the Holy Tomb. Edelgard turned back to see Rhea glaring at her, furious and terrible. Byleth stood at her side, Relic still in hand.

“Professor,” Rhea said, voice shaking with unchecked fury. “Kill Edelgard at once.”

Hubert touched the back of Edelgard’s arm, and she knew that to mean that he was ready to warp the two of them to safety. Edelgard lifted her hand.

“Hold on,” she said quietly, staring at Byleth. “Hold on.”

Byleth stared back at her, and for a moment, Edelgard saw a flicker of light in those dull, faraway eyes. She inched back towards Hubert, just in case she had read the situation horribly wrong. Her whole being was screaming at her to just leave while she still could, but she held on to that flicker of light - that flicker of hope.

Then Byleth bowed their head and walked to her side.

“You,” Rhea said lowly, rage dripping from every syllable. “How dare you!”

“My teacher,” Edelgard said incredulously. “I… Thank you.”

There was a commotion from the crowd of students. Edelgard turned to see her Black Eagles walking towards her, all looking frightened but determined. Her heart swelled in her chest until she felt she might suffocate.

“We’re with you, Edie,” Dorothea said quietly as they stood by her side. She squeezed Edelgard’s hand. “No matter what.”

“You are all enemies of the Church, and of the goddess,” Rhea declared, drawing herself up to her full height. In the dim light, with her expression hysterical, she looked almost like a monster. “You will know regret for this!”

Everyone else was still unmoving, uncertain of how to react to the scene unfolding before them. Edelgard glanced around one last time at Claude, now looking deep in thought, and at Dimitri. She forced herself to wrench her gaze away from his expression. 

She held on to Dorothea’s hand and closed her eyes as Hubert concentrated his magic and warped them all away. The turmoil on Dimitri’s face remained in her mind, clear as day. That face was, perhaps, her only regret, and now it would remain buried in that tomb forever.

As they arrived at the Imperial provisional camp Edelgard looked around at her classmates and at her teacher. It still didn’t feel real to her, but their presence meant more to her than she could ever say. The road ahead was dark and dangerous, this she knew - but with them at her side, it seemed infinitely more bearable.

She couldn’t help but smile as Hubert briefed them on the situation, and it felt like the most genuine smile she’d offered in months. There was no going back now. It was time to press on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What?? 5000 words and we haven't even gotten past the timeskip yet?! Well, rest assured that 90% of the plot is mapped out already so it's all just a matter of me... writing it out... which is easier said than done
> 
> Also, yes, Edelgard ordered the bandits to attack at the start ... which was a super flimsy plan honestly, wtf was she thinking


	2. the bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Now then,” Claude said, tenting his fingers on the table. “To business.”
> 
> “To business,” Edelgard echoed.

_ Red Wolf Moon, 1183 _

There were those who had told Edelgard that the Emperor of the Adrestian Empire was not supposed to stand on the battlefield. It was mostly the older nobles who had seen many regimes before her advising her to do as her forebears had done and remain safe in Enbarr while her subjects carried out the fighting.

“I will not do as my forebears have done,” she replied coldly, every time. “That’s sort of the point.”

_ Thwack! _The sound of a steel axe cutting down three training dummies at once, swift and unforgiving. Edelgard rolled back her shoulders and adjusted her grip on the axe, eyes narrowed in concentration. She’d had the capital’s finest blacksmith make her a series of custom axes designed to emulate Aymr as closely as possible. She was unwilling to use her Relic even when training, for fear that she might damage it at all somehow. It had saved her from many a cruel fate these past three years.

“Careful not to overdo it. We wouldn’t want you to strain yourself.”

She turned to see Dorothea drifting in through the entrance to the training grounds and smiling at her. Edelgard returned the smile and nodded back at her. Dorothea had become something akin to a sister to her since they had left the monastery. There had been those who’d raised doubts when Edelgard had declared a commoner one of her closest advisers, but Dorothea’s mind for resource allocation and popularity among commonfolk and nobility alike had quelled those doubts very quickly.

“Dorothea,” Edelgard said. “I don’t often see you here.”

“Is there anything wrong with wanting to see our dashing Emperor train?” Dorothea replied, laughing quietly behind her hand. “Caspar told me you were here and I thought I’d take a look for myself.”

“Caspar,” Edelgard muttered to herself, placing her axe back on the rack and perusing the remaining selection of weapons. They were all heavy and unwieldy, the kinds of weapons typically only used by heavily armored men. People tended to underestimate how well she handled these weapons. They never underestimated her for very long.

“There’s something else,” Dorothea said after a pause.

“Oh?” Edelgard said, skimming her fingers over the leather-wrapped handle of a tomahawk. _Of course there is. _Nobody ever visited her for their own reasons nowadays. “Go on.”

“We just received word that the attempt to break the Alliance hold at the Great Bridge of Myrddin was… inconclusive,” Dorothea said, choosing her words carefully. “The Alliance border holds strong, and we lost half the squadrons stationed there to their defensive efforts.”

Edelgard’s fingers closed around the handle of the tomahawk harder than they needed to as she took a deep breath, the news like a dull blow to her. Myrddin had been tightly controlled by the Alliance all through the war. The Western nobles of the Kingdom had very quickly acquiesced to her, making the Empire’s expansion into Faerghus easier, but to the east the Alliance’s border had remained stalwart and unchanging. It was getting more and more difficult to maintain the two fronts, and this latest failed attempt to break the Alliance hold certainly did not bode well.

She grabbed the throwing axe off the rack and strode over to the target range, Dorothea close behind her.

“Edie,” Dorothea said, and Edelgard shook her head, already knowing what she was going to say.

“It’s okay,” she said grimly, though she felt anything but okay. “A good leader mustn’t dwell on her failures. We’ll talk about our next moves at the strategy meeting tomorrow.”

“Come have dinner with me tonight,” Dorothea suggested lightly, perching on one of the steps to the side of the target range as Edelgard readied her stance at the chalk line drawn in the dirt. “We haven’t had a moment to just talk in _ ages, _and you need to relax once in a while. You don’t always have to be the good leader.”

Edelgard exhaled, relaxing the tension in her shoulders as she stared down at the target before her. She appreciated Dorothea’s offer, but there was no way she understood how the weight of a nation’s expectations felt on one’s heart. The kind of guilt that followed relaxation or frivolity, to the point where it almost wasn’t worth it at all.

“I’ll think about it,” she said, regardless, and threw. The tomahawk flew through the air and lodged itself in the middle of the target, not deviating even half an inch from its center.

“Why, Edie,” Dorothea said, sounding very impressed. “You’re almost like an archer with that axe!”

Edelgard rolled her sleeves up to her shoulders. “Perhaps.”

Edelgard turned the dagger over in her hand, gazing pensively at the lines and edges that she had been staring at for the last ten years. Once upon a time, someone had told her to use it to cut a path to a new future. From where she was sitting, that future was looking hazier, more difficult to achieve, day by day.

The metal frame of the throne was cold under her arm as she lifted herself up to look at Hubert, who was standing at her left and flipping through the full report of what had happened at Myrddin. The furrow in his brow grew deeper and deeper as he read.

“Hubert.”

“Yes, your Majesty?”

“I would like to speak to Duke Riegan,” Edelgard said. Hubert stopped looking at the report and instead stared blankly at her.

“What?”

“Oh, Hubert, we can’t keep ramming our heads into the brick wall that is the Alliance border and bleeding troops forever,” Edelgard said, perhaps more forcefully than she needed to. She sat up fully, slipping the dagger back into the holster where she kept it under her skirt, strapped to her thigh. “Something has to change, and we still don’t know where House Riegan stands in this war. If I spoke to him - ”

“With all due respect, my lady,” Hubert cut in, with an edge to his voice that Edelgard knew to mean he disagreed with her vehemently. “I don’t believe that Duke Riegan will be so easily swayed from his position, and may take it as a sign of our weakness.”

Edelgard frowned. She thought back to that day in the library, all those years ago, when she had overheard Claude telling the professor of his ambitions to break down Fódlan’s borders. She remembered how he had looked at her in the Holy Tomb, how he had ridiculed tradition that fateful night on the edges of Remire Village.

Claude’s ability to maintain neutrality and such a staunch defense of the Alliance’s borders through the war had made him, in Edelgard’s eyes, a most impressive leader. She hadn’t spoken to Claude very much during their brief time together at the monastery, but she had always felt as though his eyes were set firmly on the horizon, far past the edges of Fódlan. 

Edelgard knew that this was a risky move to make, but she had spent three years not taking risks and remaining at a stalemate on the Eastern front. Something in her heart was telling her that this was the right thing to do, and for the first time in years, she was listening.

“I need you to trust me on this, Hubert,” Edelgard insisted. “Send a message to Duke Riegan and ask him if he will meet us at the Great Bridge of Myrddin for a diplomatic summons.”

Hubert swallowed quietly, the tightening of his grip on the papers the only sign of his frustration. “Very well. Which of our diplomatic advisers would you like to assist you?”

“None of them,” Edelgard said, adjusting her crown as it sat heavy on her head. “I’ll talk to him myself.”

* * *

_ Ethereal Moon, 1183 _

The winter wind was icy at Edelgard’s face as she looked up at the bridge that had been the biggest, most obstinate obstacle of the Empire’s war effort. She’d never been here in person before, having spent the last few years primarily concerned with Western expansion, and the images shown to her had not done it justice.

“So this is the Great Bridge of Myrddin,” Ferdinand murmured from her right as they walked. “It’s… not _ that _ big.”

To her left, Hubert scoffed.

There was a small staircase leading up to the main bridge where Alliance soldiers were waiting - perhaps more than was strictly necessary, but Edelgard couldn’t fault them for it. She was the one approaching them, after all. Claude was smart, but surely not even he knew exactly what she had come for. She still wasn’t sure that she herself fully understood her own reasons.

“Emperor Hresvelg,” one of the Alliance soldiers said as they approached. His face was mostly covered by his helmet but she could still tell that he was nervous. “Duke Riegan is waiting for you on the bridge. He has asked that you bring only your adviser for the meeting.”

Edelgard glanced around at the group she had come with - a small squad of Empire soldiers, along with Hubert and Ferdinand. 

“I don’t think I can allow that,” she said. “In the interest of security.”

“He thought you might say that,” the soldier said, and Edelgard almost laughed at that. “In which case, Sir Aegir may accompany you as well.”

“Ah, so Duke Riegan knew I would be in attendance!” Ferdinand said proudly.

“Uh,” the soldier said. “Yes, sir. It was in the letter.”

Edelgard exhaled slowly, weighing the options. She hadn’t come all this way to fall victim to an ambush, after all, and not having a larger group of soldiers by her side gave her pause. Still, Claude had never seemed the kind of man who would be content with ambush. It was far too obvious a solution for someone like him to take it.

“Fine,” she said finally. “Take us to Duke Riegan.”

The Alliance soldiers moved into formation around the three of them and began to lead them up the stairs. Edelgard turned to Hubert and muttered: “The hint of trouble, and we warp out of here.”

“Understood,” he replied lowly.

The wind was even stronger when they finally got to the main bridge, and Edelgard drew her cloak tighter around her. It was so vast that it nearly took her breath away. No wonder her troops had never been able to penetrate it, no matter how many she sent. The defensive position that this bridge allowed was second to none.

Claude was just a small golden figure in the distance as the Alliance soldiers in front of her parted. There was an older woman on his right. He was standing next to a small tower with an oak door on it, no doubt leading into the room that had traditionally been used for diplomatic meetings at Myrddin. Her father had attended them when she was a child, speaking to Claude’s late grandfather about Empire-Alliance relations. Now here they were, doing the same thing.

“Your Majesty!” Claude exclaimed as they got closer, smiling and putting his hands on his hips. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it has,” Edelgard said, clipped and reserved still. “It’s nice to see you again.” 

She wasn’t sure how to begin this sort of thing, only that she knew what she wanted the end result to be. The part in between was… not her strong suit.

“I like the red,” Claude said, gesturing at her dress. “This is Judith von Daphnel.”

“A pleasure,” said the woman at his side, appraising Edelgard from head to toe. “You are smaller than I thought you might be.”

“Alright, no need to antagonize the Emperor, we’re all friends here,” Claude cut in quickly before Edelgard could respond. He was still smiling around at them, but there was something peculiarly calculating about his smile, as though he was sizing them up. He’d always been fairly carefree, but Edelgard knew better than to mistake that for weakness. He would be on his guard during this meeting, as would she.

“Let’s go inside,” he said finally, stepping over and graciously opening the door for them. “I’m sure it’s freezing out here compared to the balmy temperatures of Enbarr.”

“Thank you,” Edelgard replied shortly, stepping into the room at the base of the tower. It was furnished quite splendidly, with a giant Alliance crest mounted on the wall above the fireplace. Alliance soldiers stood in the four corners of the room.

Edelgard sat down at the side of the table that pointed south, as was tradition for meetings between their two nations. Claude sat opposite her, gesturing for Hubert and Ferdinand to take the seats adjacent to hers as Judith remained standing behind him.

“Weapons on the table.”

Claude took his Relic from where it was strapped to his back and placed it in the center of the table. It gleamed dully in the low light. Edelgard did the same with Aymr, and watched as Ferdinand and Judith relinquished their weapons as well.

“Now then,” Claude said, tenting his fingers on the table. “To business.”

“To business,” Edelgard echoed, feeling out of place in a setting like this. She slipped her cloak off her shoulders and Hubert silently took it for her. “I’ve been very impressed with your capabilities as a leader, first of all.”

“Oh, why, thank you very much,” Claude said, dipping his head in a mock bow. “Just doing what’s necessary in the face of - well, you know.”

Edelgard pressed her lips together tightly. “Yes. I’m sure you’re fully aware of the Empire’s many attempts to break your southern border.”

“I’m _ fully _ aware, alright,” Claude said, smiling a little. “If you’re here to ask that we just give you Myrddin after you failed to take it by force, I’ll just cut to the chase and say I’m afraid we can’t do that.”

Behind him, Judith snorted quietly. Edelgard frowned. He was being chipper about it. How dare he be chipper about this, when Edelgard was having such a hard time coming up with what to say? She took a deep breath to compose herself.

“I have come to ask you for your… help,” she said finally. “Humbly and sincerely. Our war effort is split between the Western and Eastern fronts but we run into pro-Kingdom roadblocks more and more every day. It is becoming… more difficult to station soldiers here.”

This seemed to get his attention. Claude’s gaze became serious all of a sudden as he sat up a little straighter, folding his arms across his chest.

“Okay,” he said. “Then leave the Alliance to its own devices and take the Kingdom. You know House Riegan officially has no horse in this race. You don’t have to have the Alliance, too.”

“I know,” Edelgard said. “But you know I can’t do that.”

“And why not? Not willing to give up on your ultimate goal of conquest?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but _ you _ having some grand design to be Emperor of all Fódlan isn’t a good enough reason for _ me _to agree to place my country under your jurisdiction.”

“It’s not - that’s not my goal,” Edelgard replied, clenching her fists under the table. Oh, Claude was clever and strategically gifted, but of course, he had no idea what her real motivation was. Of course he only saw her as a conqueror. “The unification of Fódlan benefits the Alliance, too.”

“The unification of Fódlan - with you at the helm,” Claude said, voice very steady. “As long as there are those who seek power for themselves under the guise of unification, Fódlan will never move forward.”

Edelgard sat at a loss for words, a low, simmering rage building in her stomach. He didn’t understand. He would understand, if she could only explain -

“Now, if that’s all,” Claude continued, sitting back in his chair. “I’d like to invite you and your men to a dinner in the bridge before you depart, to be a good host and all… Judith, if you could send word - ”

“To become Emperor is not my goal,” Edelgard said abruptly, gripping the side of the table. Claude raised an eyebrow. To her left, Hubert muttered: “My lady…”

“Leave it,” she hissed, then turned her attention back to Claude and straightened her posture. “It has never been my design to be Emperor. I was born to a large family. This inheritance was… thrust upon me. But I have used the hand that I was dealt. I am using my position to achieve my larger goal of reunification, and the abolishment of the class system brought about by Crests and the corruption of nobility. For people to live freely and equally is my goal. That is all I want. That is all I have ever wanted.”

Claude was silent now, and very still. His eyes searched her face as she paused, looking a little confused and tentatively curious.

“And...” Edelgard clenched her jaw, ignoring Hubert’s intenze gaze on her. Even he didn’t know this part yet. She knew he wouldn’t like it. “And if we are successful, after everything has settled, after all the work is done - I don’t intend to remain Emperor.”

She saw Ferdinand tense to her right, could feel Hubert’s expression grow stormy. Still she continued, her eyes fixed on Claude’s face, which remained unusually serious.

“Nor will my children or any descendants become Emperor after me. Instead it will be someone truly worthy, even if that someone is from outside of Fódlan. No longer will people be defined by their births. _ That _is my intention. Those are my designs. I believe you are much the same. Are you not?”

The silence that hung over the room when Edelgard finished speaking was deafening. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest as she took a breath, her shoulders tense and her jaw clenched. She had laid all her cards out on the table and she had no idea how Claude would respond to them. For a sinking moment as they stared at each other, unmoving and unblinking, she feared that she had just doomed the Empire forever.

Then, inexplicably, Claude smiled.

“Your Majesty,” he said. “I’m impressed.”

Edelgard swallowed. “By?”

Claude shrugged. “Oh, the purity of your motivations, or something of that kind. I must admit that before I came here, my advisers warned me not to be taken in by what you said. Didn’t they, Judith?”

“They did,” Judith said. “I was one of them.”

“They told me that you would be trying to manipulate me,” Claude said, waving a hand. “But they weren’t around to see _ that.” _

Edelgard felt like she could hardly breathe. “I would never lie about such a thing.”

“Yes, I know,” Claude said, sounding a little faraway. “You are nothing if not honest. And, well… I believe you.”

She continued to sit very still, not quite willing to believe what he was saying just yet. Hubert put a hand on her elbow, reassuring and quiet. Edelgard nodded slightly at him to let him know that she appreciated it.

Claude drummed on the table idly, looking deep in thought. “It will be difficult. There is a substantial faction of pro-Alliance nobles who staunchly oppose the Empire, and they have been at conflict with the pro-Empire faction for years now. It will take some time for me to bring the two sides together…”

Edelgard blinked. “So, you will…?”

Claude laughed at her expression. “Yes, your Majesty. You’ve won me over. I have a few more conditions for this partnership to really work, but… I’m willing to give it a shot.”

The room spun around her for a second as Edelgard released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, her shoulders slumping as she sat back in her seat. Relief crashed over her like a wave. After so many years of bad news on the Alliance front, this had sent her reeling.

“Name your conditions,” Hubert said on her behalf, sounding uncharacteristically dazed. The very foundation of the war had just shifted under their feet, and everyone present knew it.

“First, and most important - Judith, have the chef prepare for a celebratory dinner,” Claude said, grinning. “The world is changing.”

“I think it would be really cool if you granted independence to Brigid, by the way,” Claude said to Edelgard as they sat at dinner. He downed the last of his glass of wine and gestured for another. “Petra wants it.”

“How on Earth do you know what Petra wants?”

“We write,” Claude said, a lazy grin coming across his face. “We’re _ friends_. Us outsiders have to stick together.”


	3. the monastery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She thought of Dimitri’s face when she had left him in the Holy Tomb all that time ago. That was the last time she had seen him. She refused to let herself believe that that face was what she had left of him.

_ Garland Moon, 1184 _

Edelgard’s twenty-second birthday was on the twenty-second day of the Garland Moon. Three other birthdays had passed since the war had begun. She always waved off any notion of a celebration, only ever agreeing to make a brief public appearance as was customary for the Emperor before returning to her chambers and instructing Hubert to intimidate anyone who tried to mention it to her. Even before the war she hadn’t cared much for birthday celebrations, but especially now, when it was imperative that she be focused at all times and not let her guard down, the very notion of pointless frivolity wasn’t one that she was willing to entertain.

So why, then, was she currently sitting at the head of the table in the rarely-used Enbarr banquet hall, being toasted by enemy-turned-ally Duke Riegan?

“... and to House Ordelia for finally agreeing to lend their strength to the Empire, giving me a reason to come down to Enbarr,” Claude said, lifting his glass of wine high and grinning over at Edelgard, who was beginning to seriously consider fleeing the country. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me it was your birthday.”

“Can’t fathom why,” Linhardt remarked quietly from his left, shooting a pointed glance at the sour expression on Edelgard’s face. 

“Edie usually doesn’t like anyone to know,” Dorothea said, laughing and putting one hand over Edelgard’s, presumably to prevent her from actually throwing a knife at Claude. “Deathly afraid it’ll detract from her image as a serious and single-minded leader. But I’ve been saying for months that she needs to have some fun once in a while, so thank you for - oh, marching in and saying that we should have some kind of celebration!”

“How did you even find out?” Edelgard asked, shaking her head.

“Caspar told me when I arrived,” Claude said.

“Caspar,” Edelgard muttered, and glared at the aforementioned, who flushed and tried to scoot his chair behind Bernadetta’s.

It certainly had been an enjoyable evening, and Edelgard would be lying if she said she hadn’t missed spending time with her former classmates all together like this - even with the unexpected presence of Claude - but it had been so long since she’d allowed herself such small luxuries that she felt she no longer knew how to live with them.

If anything, it had gotten in the way of Claude’s actual business here, which had ostensibly been about House Ordelia’s territory but which Edelgard had intended to use as a way to mask the difficult conversation that they needed to have.

As the food was cleared away and everyone began to drift away, Edelgard caught Claude by the arm before he could leave as well.

“Hey. I have something I need to speak to you about.”

Claude raised an eyebrow and cast a quick glance around the nearly-empty banquet hall. “Without Hubert here? Are you finally going to ask me to marry you? Because I’m flattered, really - ”

“Stop it,” Edelgard snapped. “This is important.”

“Alright, alright,” Claude sighed, drawing a chair for her. “_My lady_.”

Edelgard rolled her eyes and sat down. Claude plopped down on the chair next to her and immediately sank into a sprawl, propping his chin up on his hand.

“Go ahead.”

“Okay,” Edelgard began, exhaling quietly. “As you know, our efforts at expanding into the Kingdom have been made far easier because Cornelia ceded the Western regions to us very soon as the war began.”

“No need to brag,” Claude said.

“But…” Edelgard paused again, trying to figure out how to say this next part. “You see… it’s not all ideal. Have you heard of the ancient Agarthans?”

Claude hummed to himself. “Sounds familiar, but can’t say that I know too much about them.”

“They say that the ancient Agarthans turned on the Goddess and her children,” Edelgard said. “Created war. Nearly destroyed the continent. They were forced to retreat underground, but even to this day… their descendants live on. They were the people who - ”

She swallowed, choking on the second half of that sentence. _ Performed experiments on me. Killed my siblings. Gave me only a few more years to live. _All things that became trapped on the tip of her tongue as she clasped her hands together tightly.

Claude, to his credit, was good at recognizing when to stop being an asshole. He sat up, brow furrowing slightly, and said, quietly: “Go on.”

Edelgard cleared her throat. “They’ve been working from the shadows to destroy the church and all of Fódlan for many years. I… I must confess that I worked with these people early on, in order to seize power. They were responsible for the kidnapping of Flayn, and for killing Jeralt. The professor’s father.”

It felt as though the words were being torn from her as the lump in her throat seemed to grow larger with guilt. She had only ever spoken in depth about these things to Hubert before, and that was only because Hubert was the only person in the world who she could be sure about. But she knew that in order for everything to work as planned, she had to make Claude understand. She had to trust him.

It was difficult work for someone who had only trusted a handful of people in her life, several of whom were now missing or dead. Claude stayed quiet, waiting for her to summon the will to continue.

Eventually the guilt that stung at her throat subsided enough for her to keep talking. “Cornelia - she is one of them. Or she’s been working closely with them. That is how we became acquainted. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you…”

“... that having her in a position of power like that is a danger to all Fódlan,” Claude said grimly. There wasn’t a trace of the good humor that usually defined him. Now he was Duke Riegan, stalwart leader of the Alliance. “So we have to figure out a way to oust her without losing the support of the Western nobles, who follow her closely.”

“Exactly,” Edelgard said. “Which will be monumentally difficult.”

Claude nodded slowly, processing the information. “So… what? You asked me here to help you come up with a plan for an impossible situation? To help dethrone someone who actually supports you, for reasons that you can’t make the general public aware of? And try not to lose the crucial support of those who follow her in the process? I’m known for my schemes but I’m afraid not even I can think my way out of this one…”

“There is one thing that I think would work,” Edelgard said. “Better than anything else.”

“What’s that?”

She pressed her lips together tightly. “Dimitri.”

Claude stared at her blankly for a few moments before an expression of deep confusion came across his face. “_Dimitri? _ He’s been dead for - Goddess, _ years _ now. Dead, or missing, or otherwise gone. It would sure be _ nice _ to have the heir to the Kingdom on our side, but even if he were alive, his people think him a traitor now.”

Edelgard shook her head. “I think he’s alive. He must be. He’s the key to this whole problem. I see that now.”

“Well, great time to see that, Edelgard,” Claude said, crossing his arms. “Four years into the war, with your _‘key’ _missing and probably dead, you see that now, huh?”

“Listen,” Edelgard said sharply. “Years ago, I thought that the way to fight this war was on my own. All the people around me - including you - have since taught me that I was wrong. If I had known back then…”

She thought of Dimitri’s face when she had left him in the Holy Tomb all that time ago. That was the last time she had seen him. She refused to let herself believe that that face was what she had left of him.

“If I had known back then, things might be different now,” Edelgard said. “But I didn’t, and now I need Dimitri. He’s the only person in all of Fódlan who can help us remove Cornelia from power and ensure that no loyalty to her remains. He’s the _ only _ one.”

Claude was silent for a moment. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I know that this is hard for you.”

“Yes,” Edelgard said. “It is.”

“And you think Dimitri is still alive,” Claude said. “How?”

Edelgard stared down at her clenched hands, still resting on the tabletop. “They never recovered his body. He must be out there somewhere. He’s far too stubborn to just die. Like a weed you can’t quite get rid of.”

“Not like you to think up plans based on anything but absolute certainty,” Claude remarked.

“Well, no,” Edelgard said, casting a glance at him. “But I had little reason to speak to you when I did, either.”

Claude laughed quietly, shaking his head. “That is true. Very well, your Majesty. I’ll keep an eye out.”

* * *

_ Red Wolf Moon, 1184 _

It had been several months of inconclusive reports from scouts failing to find any trace of Dimitri’s purported whereabouts when Edelgard received a message from Claude at the end of the Red Wolf Moon, close to one month before the millennium festival was supposed to have taken place. She hurriedly excused herself from a meeting with Count Bergliez when word was sent, rushing out of the meeting room to find Hubert standing there in the hallway and silently holding the letter out to her.

“Oh,” she said. “Did you open this?”

“Yes.”

“Did you read it?”

“No.”

Edelgard nodded solemnly. “I shall read it aloud to you.”

“Very good, my lady.”

She unfolded the paper and cleared her throat to read.

_ My dear Edelgard (or your Imperial Majesty or whatever you’re going by these days), _

“He should use your proper title,” Hubert muttered.

“Hubert, please,” Edelgard said sternly. “But I agree.”

_ Hope all is well with you. The weather is lovely in Derdriu at this time of year. I only wish you would make a trip up here to see it, although it may run a bit too temperate for your liking. Also, I think there are people here who still want you dead, so maybe not the best idea right now. (I’m working on that!) _

_ Anyway, I’ve received word that Dimitri is alive. Guess that means you were right, your Majesty. Take a bow. _

Edelgard heard a sharp intake of breath from Hubert. Her own heart began to beat faster as she continued reading, a little out of breath herself all of a sudden.

_ Now, a couple things. It was an anonymous source, so I’m not entirely sure who sent it, or if it can be believed, but it came from the north of Faerghus. There’s still a small but vocal base of House Blaiddyd supporters in that area so I think if there’s anyone who knows where Dimitri is, that’s where they are. My guess is that word has gotten out that we’re looking for him. Oops. _

_ Their exact wording: Dimitri is alive, and hiding out at Garreg Mach Monastery. _

Edelgard exhaled quietly to herself, stumbling over the words. The monastery was still technically under Empire control, but it was so far from the important fronts and from Enbarr that it had largely been abandoned, overrun by bandits the last she’d heard. It had been so long since she’d even thought about it. She’d be lying if she said that it didn’t hold some unpleasant memories for her.

Hubert hummed quietly. “If word has spread to the Kingdom that both us and Claude are looking for Dimitri, Cornelia may become suspicious.”

“Then we’ll just have to get to him quickly,” Edelgard said grimly.

_ I know you’re probably suspicious of this. I’m not too keen on it myself. In fact, you say the word, and I’ll toss this letter out right away. I trust your judgment. But so far it’s the only thing we have. _

_ If you decide to follow up on this, though, I think we should meet at the monastery in a month’s time. The night before the millennium festival (remember when that was a thing?). If Dimitri is really there, it would be best for the two of us to be there, too. Just to maybe convince him that working together is the right decision. _

_ Send word back to me with your decision. I look forward to seeing you there, perhaps. Also, here are some hypothetical drawings of what I think Dimitri’s hair looks like now. _

“And here he’s included several rough sketches of Dimitri with varying, increasingly absurd hairstyles,” Edelgard said, frowning down at the paper.

“Claude has always been… quite a character,” Hubert remarked.

“Yes,” Edelgard said. “I think it will be the third from the right.”

“Agreed,” Hubert said.

* * *

_ Ethereal Moon, 1184 _

It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had first gazed upon the steeples and towers of Garreg Mach. The monastery became visible through the trees as they approached the Oghma Mountains and the sun began to set. Edelgard drew her dark cloak tighter around herself, her heart rate quickening.

They’d had to move quickly. Her departure had been slightly delayed by reports of a food shortage in Hevring, so now they were travelling extra hours every day. They’d had to forgo a carriage or any sort of luxury, travelling on horseback to avoid detection by anyone, and Edelgard could feel the exhaustion beginning to set in.

“My lady,” Ladislava said, riding up next to her. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, Ladislava, thank you,” Edelgard said, although the fatigue threatened to overwhelm her. “Let us press on. Claude will be waiting for us at the base of the mountains.”

There was still a part of her that was suspicious - she would have been a terrible leader for there not to be, after all. Even surrounded by her personal guard and most trusted advisers, she was still extremely aware of the fact that this could very well be a trap put in place to ensnare both her and Claude, two of the most important players in this war.

Still, whatever might happen, Edelgard would not allow herself to be captured or defeated here. If there was even a chance that Dimitri was still alive, she had to take it. It was that or let Fódlan be consumed by the darkness lurking beneath their feet.

They arrived in the dilapidated village at the base of the monastery just as it grew dark. The townspeople in the street looked frightened to see them arrive. The fact that they were all cloaked in black to disguise their Empire origins probably didn’t help. 

Hubert rode up to a woman clutching an infant in her arms tightly, who looked on the verge of fainting.

“Hello, miss,” he said evenly. “Has another group of people arrived here today?”

She nodded quickly, pointing in the direction of a building at the edge of the village. The windows were lit, and Edelgard could see shadows moving inside. “Y - yes. They went right to the old inn.”

“Thank you,” Hubert said stiffly, lingering awkwardly for a second before rummaging around in his pocket and taking out some money, which he offered. “For your, er, child.”

“Oh,” the woman said, taking it cautiously. “Thank you, sir.”

“Yes,” Hubert said.

“We have to go,” Edelgard cut in, before he could embarrass himself further. “Many thanks, ma’am.”

They rode off in the direction of the building the woman had indicated, Hubert looking more sullen than usual. Edelgard would have laughed at his plight if she weren’t still so on edge about this whole thing. Nobody seemed to recognize them, but that didn’t mean they were in the clear yet. Not by a long shot.

There were already horses tied up in the area by the inn when they arrived there. One white wyvern sat among them, preening. Edelgard recognized it as Claude’s.

“I think it’s safe to leave our horses here,” she said, dismounting her horse and dusting herself off. Her legs felt strange after lack of use, and she was still a little light-headed from exhaustion, but finally being here in the shadow of Garreg Mach had reinvigorated her. “Ladislava, have your men settle the horses. Hubert and I will check the inn.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

Hubert pushed open the door of the inn to reveal Claude sitting at a table, carving out arrowheads and humming quietly to himself. Judith sat sprawled out next to him, her feet on the table as she chatted idly with some Alliance soldiers. There was a fire crackling in the fireplace. All of them looked up once Edelgard and Hubert entered. A wide smile broke out across Claude’s face.

“So you finally decided to show up,” he said cheerily. “We were wondering when you’d be here! Just the two of you?”

“The rest of them are settling the horses,” Edelgard said, stepping in and crossing her arms. “This is where we are staying for the night, I presume.”

“Yeah, so the thing is, nobody actually operates this inn anymore,” Claude said, waving a hand. “We checked all the rooms upstairs and they’re a little, um… unsanitary. So I would suggest just setting up camp here. We can push aside all the tables to make room for our gear. Sound like a plan?”

Edelgard glanced at Hubert and sighed. “I suppose we’ll have to make do.”

She’d been so tired that she’d fallen unconscious nearly the second her makeshift bed had been made up, but Edelgard woke early the next day, her eyes snapping open the second the sunlight hit her face. She lay there for a while, trying and failing to go back to sleep. Eventually she gave up and turned her head to see everyone else still asleep - except for Claude’s bedding, which was empty.

Curiosity got the better of her as she rose, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and drawing her cloak around herself. The winter chill had shivers running down her back as she carefully stepped past all the sleeping bodies and opened the front door to see Claude standing there, gazing into the distance at the spires of Garreg Mach. He turned when he heard her emerge and smiled warmly, sleepily.

“Good morning, your Majesty.”

“Good morning,” Edelgard replied, walking up to him. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not very long,” Claude murmured, putting his hands in his pockets. “I just… there’s something about the way I feel today. I can’t quite describe it. I have a good feeling about today.”

“And that feeling compelled you out of bed and into the cold,” Edelgard said dryly. Claude laughed, his breath making clouds in the air.

“Hey, you should be glad I’m having this feeling considering what we’ve risked to be here today,” he said, pointing up at the architecture of Garreg Mach where it lay shrouded in the mist. “There may be a very lonely, very full-of-repressed-anger heir to the Kingdom throne in that monastery, and - you said it yourself - he might be the key to solving this whole thing. Right?”

Edelgard cracked a smile, folding her arms across her chest. “Right.” 

The thought of perhaps seeing Dimitri again, in whatever state he might be in, was nerve-wracking to be sure, but Claude’s presence was making it easier. Edelgard had come to appreciate his carefree disposition, though she suspected she would have found it an annoyance if he wasn’t also uncommonly sensitive to when he needed to turn it off. 

She’d resisted his attempts at forging friendship or even peace between the two of them in their school days, out of refusal to give him any sort of ammunition against her once war broke out, but even she had to admit that standing here with just him in the early hours was… nice. Comfortable, in a way that she hadn’t let herself be in a long time. The only people she usually allowed to see her like this were Hubert and Dorothea. She’d first reached out to Claude for political reasons, but over time he’d made it easy for her to think of him as a friend and trusted ally, which she was grateful for.

Edelgard would later use that notion to justify what she said next. “Do you remember what I told you about the Agarthans?”

“Of course,” Claude said.

“I have some personal experience with them,” she said, staring ahead at the empty streets of the broken-down village, and she could almost pretend she was just talking into the wind. Like he wasn’t there. “I grew up with nine siblings. When we were children, the descendants of the Agarthans - those who slither in the dark - they came to us and… performed experiments on us. Held us underground. Cut through our flesh, trying to see if any of us could bear the physical toll of having two Crests.”

The words were flowing easier now, no longer being ripped from her as though by force but coming naturally in a way that they never had before. Edelgard’s eyes began to sting, but whether those were tears or the effects of the winter chill, she had no idea. “All of them perished, but I survived. I was the only one. Me, the perfect ruler of Fódlan. The perfect Emperor. But they didn’t realize it would come at a price.”

She balled her hands into fists, her nails digging into her palms. The snowy mountaintops that surrounded Garreg Mach were a little clearer now as the mist was beginning to clear away. “I don’t know how long I have left to live, only that it isn’t very long. I don’t expect to live past thirty, at least.”

Claude was very still next to her, frozen like a statue as he stared ahead too. Edelgard sighed, shook her head.

“That’s why I’m so determined to do this now, while I still can,” she said quietly. “And why I’ll stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Even if it ends with my death. Every path leads there eventually, anyway.”

There was a long silence in the wake of her words. Edelgard closed her eyes, hugging herself tighter, feeling the breeze whip past her face. Taking deep breaths, she tried her hardest to forget that Claude was there, that there had actually been a witness to what she’d just said.

Then, out of nowhere, a hand tentatively landed on her shoulder. Edelgard opened her eyes and turned her head to see Claude looking at her, eyes gentle.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and there was no trace of irony. “I’m really sorry. It can’t have been easy.”

Edelgard could do nothing but nod. No, it wasn’t easy. It had never been, and would never be. She was grateful that he wasn’t attempting to rationalize it in any way. That he had heard her and understood was more than enough.

“Listen,” Claude said solemnly. “If we get through this, I’ll do everything in my power to try and help you find a cure. Anything at all. I know it won’t bring back your family, but it’s the least I can do. You came to me and brought me closer to my dream, just when I was beginning to think that perhaps it was hopeless. I owe you that much.”

“Thank you,” Edelgard replied, voice still small. Something was thrumming under her skin, an energy, a warmth, unfamiliar but not unwelcome. There was more she needed to tell him - her suspicions about Lysithea, for one - but those could wait for another time. 

They just stood quietly for a few moments more, gazing out at the mountains, and Edelgard had a good feeling about what was to come.

“Oh, and Dimitri is my step-brother,” Edelgard said offhandedly to Claude as they rode up the mountainside. “Since we’re doing earth-shattering revelations today.”

“He - _ what?!” _

* * *

They’d heard about the state the monastery was in, but still, nothing could have prepared Edelgard for how it would feel to see the place in utter ruin. She kicked aside rubble as they stepped into the entrance hall. The pillars were on the verge of crumbling and the steps were chipping away as they walked up. The halls were eerily quiet as they passed through them, glancing around for any sign of life. Nothing but a few sparrows that had made a home in the dining hall greeted them.

“Strange to think that today was supposed to be the millennium festival,” Claude said quietly, looking around at the broken-down tables and chairs around them. “Look at this place.”

Edelgard was silent as she stepped over to the window of the dining hall, looking out over the courtyard. She scanned the overgrown grass, looked over all the crumbling architecture, and her gaze fell, inexplicably, on the Goddess Tower that sat in the distance.

“Let’s go there first,” she said, pointing at the Goddess Tower. “If he’s hiding out, I think that’s where he’ll be.”

They left Edelgard’s personal guard along with the Alliance soldiers behind to check for bandits or thieves roaming the monastery grounds before venturing off. Edelgard’s heart beat loudly in her ears as they ascended the steps of the tower, her footsteps sounding louder than they’d ever been. She could hear Hubert breathing softly behind her. Nobody dared ruin this moment with talk.

She reached the top first, emerging into the cold sunlight that shone through the skylight. For a moment it seemed that the tower was empty and that her hunch had been wrong. A group of pigeons took flight as she walked in, the beating of their wings the only noise in the quiet.

Then, out of nowhere - “Who’s there?”

_ Swish - _all of a sudden there was a sword at her throat. Edelgard immediately went for her axe as behind her Hubert snarled and swiftly shot a fire spell at the masked assailant. He hit them in the chest, sending them sprawling, their sword clattering to the floor.

“Hold on a second!” Claude said, rushing forward and putting an arm in front of Hubert before he could do any more damage. He stepped forward to take a better look at the person. _ “Felix? _ Is that you?”

The assailant took off the scarf covering the bottom half of his face to reveal that yes, it really _ was _ Felix, looking very grumpy indeed.

“Well, announce yourselves next time,” he grumbled, wincing and putting a hand to his chest as he sat up. “Then I won’t have to ambush you.”

“Felix,” Edelgard said, putting her hands on her hips. “Is there any reason you just tried to kill me?”

“Don’t blame him,” came a voice from behind her. “I told him to be on guard.”

Edelgard turned and her heart stopped in her throat. Dimitri emerged from the shadows, looking like he hadn’t slept in months, moving with a slight limp and propping himself up on what she could only assume was House Blaiddyd’s Relic. Dedue stood to his left as always, surveying all of them with that impassive gaze of his. Both of them were more scarred, more battle-hardened than they were five years ago - and all Edelgard could think was that Claude had gotten Dimitri's hair exactly right.

“Edelgard,” he said lowly, stopping and staring at her face. “It’s been a long time.”

“Dimitri,” she replied, and her voice came out choked. “The world thinks you dead.”

“The world,” Dimitri said grimly, “can suck it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY EDELGARD AND DIMITRI ARE IN THE SAME ROOM AGAIN  
Now the story FINALLY begins (they said 3 chapters in)


	4. the tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El had been gone from the world the second her father had left it. She didn’t feel anything like _El_ anymore, that bright-eyed child who believed wholeheartedly that she could be more than what she was. 
> 
> But the sound of it was still so familiar to her, like someone she had known all along.

_ Ethereal Moon, 1184 _

Dimitri had been travelling a long time.

His shoulders were sagging, weariness written in the dark shadows under his eyes as he leant on his lance, looking nothing like the proud king of Faerghus that Edelgard had always envisioned he would become. Despite his exhaustion, though, his eyes were still blazing, still like chips of ice in the cold sunlight as they fixated on Edelgard, taking in every part of her appearance.

Claude, apparently, couldn’t bear the silence. 

“Good to see you again, your Highness,” he said, crossing his arms. “Where in Seiros’ name have you been all this time, huh?”

“Hiding in my basement,” Felix muttered, picking his sword up and getting to his feet.

“Felix, please,” Dimitri said, waving a hand.

“What?” Felix snapped. “I’m _ right.” _

“Dedue,” Dimitri said insistently, turning to his vassal in the way that a child might turn to their older sibling when slighted by another child.

“Well, Your Highness,” Dedue said, sounding a tad apologetic. “That is essentially accurate.”

Dimitri sighed resignedly, dropping his head. “Fine. After Cornelia spread word that I had killed my uncle and sentenced me to execution, Dedue helped me break out of prison. We fled to the Dukedom of Fraldarius, where Duke Fraldarius and Felix have been sheltering us ever since.”

“Underground,” said Dedue. 

“Underground,” Dimitri echoed. “So, yes, in Felix’s basement, I suppose.”

“It was my father that sent word of our whereabouts to Claude a few weeks ago,” Felix said, sheathing his sword and shooting Hubert a look of annoyance as he crossed the room to stand by Dimitri, still holding a hand over his chest. “Sheesh, that spell - were you trying to kill me or something?”

“Yes,” Hubert said coldly.

Felix pursed his lips. “Fair enough.”

Claude cut in again. “So … if it was your father who sent the message, can I assume that word has spread to Faerghus about how Edelgard and I have been looking for his Princeliness here?”

“On a first name basis now, are you?” Dimitri said in lieu of a reply, casting a sideways glance at Claude.

Claude shrugged. “A lot has changed since you disappeared, my friend.”

Dimitri looked between the two of them, brow furrowed. “We’d heard that Edelgard had you assisting in the search for me, but... to be perfectly honest, I didn’t expect you to actually come here too.”

“Okay, ouch,” Claude said, putting his hands on his hips in faux indignance.

“You heard that I was looking for you and you came to me instead of fleeing,” Edelgard said, arching an eyebrow. “Why would you do that?”

In the days leading up to this excursion Edelgard had been thinking constantly of how Dimitri might behave now, how he might react if they really met again. A long time ago she had been under the illusion that she knew him and what he wanted from life, but then there had been that night in the greenhouse, and he’d become a mystery to her. She’d been prepared for the worst - for him to lash out or reject her, or reveal that this _ had _ all been an elaborate trap, or something equally awful.

She hadn’t anticipated seeing him like this. Haggard, unkempt, world-weary, resigned. Once she had thought him a lion. Now he was just a man, with his eyes fixed on hers, steely and unreadable.

Finally he spoke. “I want to speak to Edelgard alone.”

Edelgard frowned. “Why?”

“Because,” Dimitri said, and wordlessly held his lance out to the side.

Dedue took the Relic, giving a curt nod. Dimitri dusted off his thick woolen cloak and promptly sat down cross-legged on the floor, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Edelgard was speechless for a moment, looking around uncertainly at everyone with her. They all seemed dumbfounded too. In front of them Dedue walked silently over to the stairwell to stand by it, lance in hand, presumably waiting for everyone else to leave. Felix rolled his eyes and followed, muttering something that sounded like “he always does this”.

“I’m starting to think,” Claude said lightly, “that you don’t want me here for this.”

“You’re right,” Dimitri replied.

Claude chuckled quietly, shaking his head. “Oh, you’ve always been a strange one, Dimitri. Very well, then - Judith.”

He gestured with his hand and began to leave, Judith in tow. He turned to Edelgard before they descended down the stairs. “I think he means your friends need to go, too.”

Edelgard studied Dimitri’s face suspiciously, but found no ill intent - not the kind she was used to, anyway. He only looked back at her petulantly and raised his eyebrows slightly, as if to say _ “your turn”. _

“Hubert, Ladislava, please go with Claude,” she said, stepping forward slowly.

“You’re forgetting something,” Dimitri said, jerking his chin at her. “No weapons allowed in diplomatic meetings.” 

Edelgard huffed out a sigh and unstrapped her axe from her back. She held it out to Hubert. “And take this with you.”

Hubert muttered, “I do not feel comfortable leaving you with _ him, _ alone and unarmed.”

Edelgard thought of the dagger strapped to her leg. She could almost laugh at the irony of it. Hopefully it wouldn’t have to come to that. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

After a few moments of hesitation, Hubert reluctantly took Aymr from her. She heard him and Ladislava leave behind her, with Dedue following shortly after. Very soon it was just the two of them, alone together for the first time in five years. Even the birds had gone.

Edelgard sat down neatly across from Dimitri, arranging her skirt around her as she met him at eye level.

“Dimitri,” she said curtly.

“El,” he replied, his voice softer than it had been before. Edelgard clenched her jaw, working hard to keep her expression steady. It felt as though it had been a lifetime since someone had called her that. El had been gone from the world the second her father had left it. She didn’t feel anything like _ El _ anymore, that bright-eyed child who believed wholeheartedly that she could be more than what she was. But the sound of it was still so familiar to her, like someone she had known all along.

He was familiar to her too. Even after all this time he was still familiar to her.

“You asked why I came to you instead of running away,” Dimitri said, putting his hands on his knees. “I came because you were looking for me.”

“And?” Edelgard said tautly. “I could have very easily been searching for you because I knew you weren’t dead and I wanted to finish the job. I hear they call me The Great Conqueror in the Kingdom, after all. Among other things.”

Dimitri smiled wryly. So he was still capable of smiling.

“I never really liked that title,” he said. “Too cheesy, especially when applied to you.”

“Yes, it is silly,” Edelgard said, and decided not to tell him about the Black Eagle Strike Force. “But the fact remains that you knew nothing of my motivations.”

“And you knew nothing of mine,” Dimitri replied. “I wanted the chance to enlighten you.”

Edelgard exhaled. “Very well, then. Enlighten me.”

Dimitri sat in silence for a moment, collecting his thoughts. 

“I was angry with you when you attacked the Holy Tomb,” he said finally. “Very angry. I lost my mind just a little. It was as though you had taken a part of me and buried it in that tomb.”

“I know what you mean,” Edelgard said quietly. She thought of the betrayal smeared across his face when she had left him behind. She had spent so much time replaying that night over in her head - and not just that night, but every night before that, too. Wondering if things might have been different if she had just been able to explain.

“I was so angry, and I didn’t know at what,” Dimitri continued, his voice level. “I thought that maybe I was just angry at you. I thought that maybe if I were the one to defeat you - to kill you - I would be … better. That it might fix me.”

He shook his head, looking down at his clenched hands. “Then I returned home to the capital to find that my uncle was dead, and Cornelia, one of my family’s most trusted advisers, was calling for my head. And everyone, all the nobles, all the people who had watched me grow up, who told me I would be a marvelous King someday - they all turned their backs on me. All but the few Blaiddyd loyalists still in the north. And they threw me into prison to let me rot as I waited to die.”

Edelgard was silent. There was a part of her that had always known he wasn’t really the traitor that Cornelia made him out to be. The Western Church’s influence had been creeping up on the Kingdom for a long time, silently opposing the Seiros-aligned Blaiddyd house, and the timing of it had seemed all too convenient. But more than that, she knew he wasn’t capable of it. He wasn’t nearly coldhearted enough to carry out such a deed.

“You get a lot of time alone with your own thoughts in prison,” Dimitri said. “Which, well, isn’t always good for you. And for a long time I was just … angry. That’s all it was. I could feel that I was driving myself insane. Everything blurred together. You, Cornelia, the nobles - you were all to blame. The world was to blame.”

He sighed quietly, his clenched hands relaxing. “Then Dedue came to rescue me. I had driven myself into this mental corner, convinced myself that there was nothing left in the world for me - and still, Dedue came to rescue me. He risked everything to save me. We went to Fraldarius, where Rodrigue was kind enough to shelter us … and for a while, I wondered why Dedue had come for me, when it would have been so easy for him not to.

“One night I asked him why he had come for me. Why, _ really, _ why he had come for me. I practically begged him to tell me it had just been out of a sense of obligation, to prove that I was right about my warped view of the world. But instead he just told me that it was because I was the most important person in the world to him. That he truly did care about me, deeply - separate from everything else.”

He chuckled bitterly. “At first I thought he was lying to spare my feelings. Then I realized - ”

“- that Dedue would never lie to you,” Edelgard offered, and Dimitri nodded.

“And all I could think of was that _ none _of those nobles had ever thought half as much of me as Dedue did. Those people - the ones I had spent my life trying to appease - they had been perfectly content to send me to my death. I grew up believing I had been born to appease them, and still they would have killed me.”

Dimitri was looking past her now, up at the open sky, at the sunlight that shone into the Goddess Tower. “I think I’ve known this for a long time now, but … it has taken me time to really understand it. I thought of how Dedue, who they might call a commoner, someone _ lesser _ than me - how he might be the only one to see me as I am, disparate from my royal blood. Over the years I’ve realized just how broken the system of nobility truly is, the kind of hatred that it encourages. How the Church, too, is built on it. The Church feeds on it, keeps us trapped in the belief that we need gods to save us because we cannot save ourselves - or each other.”

He looked back at her, his eyes unclouded, and Edelgard thought that it might be the first time he had ever seen her clearly.

“Dedue saved me from that prison,” he said. “But it was the things I had sworn to protect that put me there. And then I thought of you. Do you remember that time we spoke after the battle at Gronder Field? The night in the greenhouse?”

Edelgard smiled faintly. “Of course.”

That night had occupied her thoughts endlessly since Dimitri had disappeared. They had both been so young, so weighed down by the burdens of their futures that neither had been willing to make themselves open. So afraid to be honest with each other for fear that it would harm the nations they carried on their shoulders.

“I began to understand why you were doing all this,” Dimitri said. “You were just … playing the hand you were dealt.”

He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes, and Edelgard saw the dark shadows and scars on his face in blinding clarity. He looked so much older than his twenty-two years. She wondered if she did too.

“So you asked why I came to you,” he said. “This is why I came. So you would know.”

Edelgard sat, silent and still, watching him as he exhaled, running a hand over his face. Dimitri was, she thought, too emotional to ever be king. So much so that it had nearly destroyed him. His way of dealing with those emotions had been to push them down, to think of them as weaknesses, blights upon his royal image. Once upon a time Edelgard had also felt that way. 

Even now there was still something holding him back. Even now they were still circling each other, neither wanting to be the one to reach out first. Years ago she hadn’t thought herself capable of doing it. Now she thought she might be.

“Dedue is not the only one who sees you as you really are,” Edelgard said, and it felt like she was crossing a line in the sand that had been drawn when they were children. “Truth be told, I used to envy you. Sometimes it felt like I was drowning under the weight of my inheritance, while you shouldered yours with such pride and dignity. But I suppose we were both just playing our parts.”

Dimitri cracked a smile. “How silly it is to think of now. We were both so caught up in fulfilling our own destinies that we never thought to speak to the one other person who might understand.”

“The truth is, Dimitri,” Edelgard said, folding her hands in her lap. “I was searching for you because I need your help. Desperately. I need your help to oust Cornelia. You may be the only one who can do it.”

Dimitri’s brow creased into a frown. “You want me to become king? After I _ just _ said all that?”

“No, no,” Edelgard said, waving a hand. “I want you to help me unify Fódlan.”

“But I thought Cornelia was working with you for that very purpose.”

“Supposedly she is, but …” Edelgard pursed her lips. “She’s far too dangerous, and can’t be allowed to hold any power. It was a mistake for me to allow it to get this far in the first place, really - and that mistake can only be remedied with your help.”

Dimitri rested his elbows on his knees and tented his fingers, looking like he was puzzling through it. “So you need me to … what?”

Edelgard sighed exasperatedly. “I _ need _ you to gather your allies and lend your strength to us. We have to defeat Cornelia and take control of the Kingdom once and for all. If I do it without you, I’ll just be what they think of me - just the Great Conqueror. Fódlan will be unified in name but not in spirit. The people of Faerghus need their rightful king to help guide them through it, to tell them that … I can be trusted.”

“Oh,” Dimitri said. “You want me to ask my people for you and find out if they like you.”

Edelgard huffed out a breath. “Dimitri.”

“And talk you up to them if they don’t,” he continued, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “You know, I’m fairly sure Sylvain has asked me to do this exact thing in the past, albeit on a slightly smaller scale …”

“Stop it,” Edelgard said sharply, and Dimitri laughed quietly.

“You know, I was so angry at you for so long,” he said. “It feels strange to realize that you might be the one to save me, too.”

Edelgard regarded him for a moment. “So you will join us?”

“If you can promise that I never have to do this royal crap ever again when it’s all said and done,” Dimitri said. “Yes. With all my might.”

He extended a hand to her, and Edelgard took it gratefully, a real smile breaking over her face. It felt like something had just clicked into place. For years she had been thinking of how things between them could have been different, and now, all of a sudden, they were. They had both changed. They had both grown, in more ways than one.

“Well,” Dimitri said, drawing back and getting to his feet with a small wince. “Looks like we can call the others back up.”

Edelgard stifled a laugh, getting up quickly to catch him by the arm as he stumbled slightly. 

“You look awful,” she said. “Has anyone told you that?”

“Tends to happen when you’ve been travelling for weeks in the wintertime,” Dimitri grumbled, swatting at her hand.

Claude paused at the top of the stairs when he returned, narrowing his eyes as he gave Dimitri the once-over. “How strange. You _ don’t _ look like you want to kill us anymore.”

“Keep it up, and I may,” Dimitri said.

Claude glanced cautiously over at Edelgard. “Did he say yes?”

Edelgard nodded and Claude grinned, striding over to throw an arm around Dimitri’s shoulders. “Alright! The three of us together are gonna give Cornelia the business, that’s for sure.”

Hubert drifted over to Edelgard’s side as she watched Dimitri and Claude squabble.

“I trust everything went smoothly, then?”

“It did,” Edelgard said, smiling softly despite herself. “Far better than I could have imagined.”

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs of the Goddess Tower. Edelgard turned toward the stairwell, thinking that perhaps it was a member of her personal guard, or maybe an Alliance soldier, come to deliver a message.

Instead of a soldier, though, it was a green head of hair that appeared out of the stairwell, followed shortly by a face that Edelgard knew all too well. She couldn’t stop the gasp that rose up in her throat as she stared at the person who had just arrived.

Behind her, Dimitri and Claude stopped talking too, presumably just as frozen in shock as she was.

Byleth stood before all of them, blinking in the sunlight and looking very disoriented indeed. It seemed they hadn’t aged a day since they had disappeared five years ago.

“Hey,” they said finally. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Professor,” Edelgard breathed out, unable to stem the tears that now pricked at her eyes. Of everything that had been lost to the war, to these five long years, Byleth was the only thing that Edelgard had given up on, her biggest source of guilt and grief. She’d long ago accepted the fact that her professor was dead, a victim of the battle that had ravaged Garreg Mach. She’d blamed herself endlessly for it, thinking of all the ways she had failed them while they were alive.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would ever see them again.

“Teach,” Claude said, a smile in his voice. “I knew you’d come back to us someday.”

_ I didn’t, _ Edelgard thought, and before she could stop herself she was barreling forward to throw herself into her teacher’s very surprised arms, shutting her eyes tightly as she embraced them.

“Edelgard,” Byleth said, confusedly putting a hand on the back of her head. “You’ve grown so much. You all have.”

“I have missed you, my teacher,” Edelgard said quietly. “My heart has been so broken for you all these years. I’m sorry for how I failed you.”

“No need to be sorry,” Byleth said. “It was a very restful nap.”

“I don’t even want to know what that means,” Edelgard muttered into her professor’s coat.

It had been a very long and turbulent day, between confiding in Claude, having a heart-to-heart with Dimitri, and seeing her professor again. At least, that was what Edelgard told herself as she let out a shuddering breath and, for the first time since her father had died, allowed herself to shed quiet tears.

“Look at us,” Claude said from behind her. “Look at all of us here, together. It’s fate. It must be.”

“I don’t believe in fate,” Edelgard said, drawing back from Byleth and wiping the tears from her eyes.

It was true. She didn’t believe in fate, and never had. But she looked around at her allies, her _ friends, _ all together again - and for a second, fate seemed within her control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to interject a little bit to, idk, explain some of the choices I've made in this fic.
> 
> Basically I saw [this great tweet](https://twitter.com/EsPyramid/status/1190427180578279424) from @EsPyramid and thought "damn. This is actually very true"
> 
> Dimitri and Claude canonically both dislike the system of nobility and it really just makes no sense to me that Dimitri's whole character motivation is based on hating Edelgard for something that she like. literally didn't even do. So I don't feel like I'm SUPER far off by imagining that if the lords were allowed to talk to each other and Dimitri didn't have a bullshit character arc, they would actually realize that they're better off collaborating?!
> 
> Anyway, as always, Intsys did what they wanted so I can do what I want too
> 
> Also thank you to everyone who has commented/subscribed/otherwise read this fic at all, I really appreciate it!


	5. the kingdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Win or lose - every path lead here, in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last chapter in this one - the main fic - and I'll probably follow up with other plot points (fighting Rhea/those who slither) in other works in this series. I'll also be writing smaller more character-driven fics (which I will also put in the series), some from other characters' POV too, just to fill out the world a bit more.
> 
> But yeah. I hope you all enjoy this final chapter! I've had the ending in my mind for weeks now and I'm so glad to be able to finally put it out into the world

_ Lone Moon, 1185 _

Dimitri idly turned his lance over in one hand as he sized her up. Edelgard gripped the handle of the iron axe tightly. She dropped into a battle-ready stance, digging her heels into the dirt. The sun was beating down on them as they eyed each other.

“How many years has it been since we last traded blows?” Dimitri asked, readying his lance.

“The attack on the Holy Tomb,” Edelgard said. “I won.”

“So you did,” Dimitri said, shaking his head. “When I was younger I used to have nightmares about having to face you on the battlefield.”

“Oh, how sad,” Edelgard said, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Does that mean you’re too afraid to fight me now?”

Dimitri laughed. “Yes.”

His lance struck out with measured precision. Edelgard dodged the blow and swung her axe in response. Dimitri stepped past the attack, thrusting his lance out to strike her in the shoulder. She huffed out an annoyed breath, taking a step back to appraise him. Dimitri was too quick with a lance, too nimble, for her to land an effective blow on him with her heavier weapon. There had to be some other way.

There was another way. Much as she hated wasting training equipment …

She ran at Dimitri and swung her axe down at him. He rolled out of the way and gave another calculated jab of his lance in retaliation. Edelgard turned, the hit just barely missing her, and with her axe still carrying the momentum of the previous swing, hit the lance at its hilt.

_ Clang! _The iron cracked as the weapon shattered in half, leaving Dimitri with just a bent weapon in hand. Edelgard kicked him in the chest and knocked him to the ground, a smile coming to her face as he was sent sprawling, his hair disheveled and his face red with heat and exertion.

“You are beaten,” she declared, striding over to offer her hand.

“I was right to be afraid of you,” Dimitri groaned, dramatically throwing a hand over his forehead. “You are a formidable foe, lady Edelgard.”

“Get up,” Edelgard said, laughing.

He took her hand and got to his feet, huffing out a laugh of his own as he regarded the broken half of a lance still in his hand. “You really did a number on this one.”

“Yes,” Edelgard sighed. “I know I should be more careful with the training equipment, but the prospect of beating you was too tempting.”

Dimitri rolled his eyes. “As it always is.”

He headed back to the weapons rack to grab a new lance, and Edelgard couldn’t help but smile to herself as she watched him go. Their combined forces - theirs and Claude’s - were to set out for Fhirdiad the next morning. The unification of Fódlan would truly begin once they successfully dethroned Cornelia.

At least, she hoped they would be successful. This was, in many ways, do or die for Edelgard, and for the Empire. It was the moment the entire war had been leading up to, and still she felt wholly unprepared for it. 

If anything happened to her or Dimitri, she wanted to forever remember the two of them like this. Not as leaders on the verge of changing the history of an entire continent, but as friends - as brother and sister.

It had been so long since she’d had a brother. She wasn’t ready to give it up again.

Sleep eluded Edelgard that night. Thoughts of the impending attack on Fhirdiad weighed heavy on her as she lay awake in bed, staring up at the painted patterns on her ceiling.

Edelgard soon found herself wandering out onto one of the balconies of the palace, breathing in the cool, salty air as she stood gazing out at Enbarr, at the lights flickering in the windows of the houses that lined the winding streets. Her people. The people she had sworn to protect, who were looking to her to lead them into a new dawn.

The thought that she might fail them was the worst thought of all.

Absentmindedly she reached down and took out the dagger that she kept strapped to her leg. She turned it over in her hands, looking at how the jewel in the handle glimmered in the dim moonlight. She could faintly see her reflection in it.

She was so young. So human. And, yet, she was the only one who could do this.

There was a familiar voice behind her. “Good evening.”

Edelgard turned to see Byleth drifting onto the balcony and a soft smile came to her face.

“My teacher,” she said. “Couldn’t sleep either?”

Byleth shook their head. “I heard you coming out here from my room.”

Edelgard frowned. “How?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Byleth said, furrowing their brow in thought. “I think that maybe when the goddess imbued me with her power and all that, all my senses were heightened as well.”

“That’s strange,” Edelgard said.

“Very,” Byleth agreed, stepping forward to join her. “What’s that you’re holding?”

Edelgard looked down at the dagger still in her hands and flushed. It occurred to her that she’d never told anyone about this before, not even Hubert - not that he ever asked. He was very good about being able to tell when he ought not to pry. Still, if there was anyone she knew she could trust with this part of herself, it was her teacher.

“This was a gift given to me by … a friend, long ago,” Edelgard said, running her fingers over the blade. “I’ve held onto it all these years because it reminds me of the child that I once was. It reminds me to hold onto my heart - that which has guided me through everything.”

“That’s lovely,” Byleth remarked gently, patting Edelgard on the shoulder as they moved up to stand next to her and look up at the stars scattered across the sky. “I find it a great comfort just to have reminders of the past near you. Like this ...”

They reached into their breast pocket and took out a small silver ring, holding it in their palm as they showed it to Edelgard.

“My father left me this,” Byleth said. “He said it was my mother’s.”

Edelgard released a short, shaky breath as she looked at the ring glinting up at her. “Oh.”

The professor had been back with them and assisting with the war effort for a while now, but still Edelgard had never spoken to them about her role in their father’s death. It had been one of the great regrets, the great sorrows of her part in this war. If she were to fall in the battle to come, she should like to have one less regret weighing on her shoulders.

“I never told you this,” Edelgard said quietly, reaching down to resheath the dagger. “But … the creatures behind your father’s death. For a long time, you see, I worked with them. Kronya in particular, while she was posing as a student here. I never knew of their intentions to kill your father, but still, I helped them get into the monastery, to get close to him - and I’m sorry. Desperately. I’m sorry. You must understand - if I could do it all over again - if I could - I would rather die fighting this war than live knowing I had done anything to hurt you.”

She couldn’t look at Byleth as they stood at her side, quiet and patient and steadfast as always. Edelgard wasn’t a perfect person - far from it, really - and she had made her fair share of mistakes. The only thing she could do was bear the consequences of those mistakes on her own.

After a moment, Byleth spoke. “I forgive you.”

Edelgard turned to them in surprise. “You what?”

“I forgive you,” Byleth said simply. “I can tell that this has been a burden on your heart.”

“How - how can you forgive me so easily?” Edelgard asked, demanding answers in her disbelief. “I helped the people who killed your father! He was all you had ...”

“But you didn’t kill him,” Byleth said, shaking their head. “And perhaps, at one time, he was all I had, but now I have so many others. I have you.”

Tears pricked at Edelgard’s eyes as she stared up at her professor. 

“Thank you, my teacher,” she said, and reached out to grip Byleth’s hand. Byleth smiled softly in response, squeezing her hand gently as they turned back to look out at the city.

As the gates of Fhirdiad became visible in the distance, Edelgard exhaled slowly, heart beating rapidly in her chest. She could feel the combined might of the three nations’ forces behind her as she rode on.

They stopped a short distance away from the gates. She dismounted her horse and joined Dimitri and Claude as they gathered in front of the troops.

“Do you think Cornelia is ready for us?” Claude asked, looking over at the imposing walls that surrounded Fhirdiad.

“She must be,” Edelgard said grimly. “Word of our advance must have spread quickly as we marched through the Kingdom.”

“I will send my men ahead to clear the path into the city,” Dimitri said. “They know the way. Claude, ready your wyvern riders to draw fire to the east side of the city. Edelgard - er. Just have your troops ready to advance when the time comes.”

“Understood,” Edelgard said, pushing down the urge to roll her eyes. “Good luck.”

They broke apart and Edelgard returned to her people, fingers nervously twitching as she ran them up and down Aymr’s handle. She looked around at her old classmates as they spoke quietly to each other. They were all putting on brave faces - except perhaps Bernadetta - but the nervous energy in the air was palpable.

Hubert was standing to her side, as he always was.

“Hubert,” Edelgard said, looking over at her trusted adviser, her oldest friend. “Before we go in there, I just want to say … thank you. For everything. No matter what happens in the battle to come, I am truly grateful to have you at my side.”

“Lady Edelgard,” Hubert replied. “It has been the great pleasure of my life to serve you.”

“Hubert, you have done so much more than serve me,” Edelgard said. “You have been my dearest, most loyal friend. When I didn’t know who would stay with me and who would go, you were my only certainty.”

“I should tell you now, I suppose,” Hubert said. “I have always loved you.”

Edelgard smiled. He had never been one to mince words. “Likewise.”

After what seemed like an eternity, Dimitri rode back up to them, his expression serious. 

“The gates are open,” he said. “The way has been cleared.”

“Thank you, Dimitri,” Edelgard replied, preparing to mount her horse again. “It’s time to take the city.”

Dimitri lingered near her as she got back on her horse, leaning in close so that nobody would hear him.

“When the time comes,” he said quietly, “will you fight Cornelia?”

Edelgard looked back at him stonily, clenching her jaw. She thought of Jeralt, of her family, of the two Crests burning beneath her skin. All her burdens had to be hers to bear.

“Yes,” she replied finally. “I must be the one to defeat her.”

Dimitri searched her face, and he seemed to understand. He nodded curtly.

“Good luck.”

The city was already a warzone as the troops spilled into the city. Edelgard dismounted and looked around in disbelief as Cornelia’s forces fired upon civilians and soldiers alike.

“She’s razing the city to the ground,” Hubert said, half in awe, as houses burst into flames and people ran blindly towards the gates in terror. In the distance, giant metal golems lumbered around the city, flattening buildings with single steps.

Edelgard took her axe out, rolling her sleeves up. “Hubert, have Caspar and Linhardt lead the troops to help escort civilians out of the city. The rest of you, provide cover fire and take out as many of Cornelia’s mages as you can. Professor - you’re coming with me.”

The Kingdom castle stood large and formidable at the end of the city, the entrance guarded by heavily armored soldiers. Byleth stood at her side, the Sword of the Creator glowing warmly in their hands.

“Let’s get her,” they said.

The two of them began to run down the path that led to the castle. Edelgard gritted her teeth as they barreled through the flames and the fighting. She could hear Claude yelling commands to his wyvern riders above them as he swooped down and rained arrows down on the group of mages that had begun to pursue them.

“Always got your back, Teach!” he yelled out, laughing, as he darted back into the sky.

They ran up the stairs to the castle doors and Edelgard felled one of the soldiers guarding the door with one swing, relishing in the way Aymr seemed to buzz beneath her fingertips as it knocked him to the ground. Behind her, Byleth held off more of the troops that had advanced on them from the city.

After dispatching the rest of the guards Edelgard could see that the path to the door was clear. She slammed into the last remaining soldier with the blunt side of her axe, sending him sprawling across the ground, as she ran to the door and tugged the latch out with shaking hands, glancing back at Byleth as they cut down three mages with one slice of their sword.

Edelgard knew that this was the best chance she was ever going to get at taking down Cornelia, who no doubt was waiting for her in the castle. She knew that her professor was more than capable of handling themselves when it came to this - and that there was no more time left to waste.

She pushed open the castle doors, ready to face another group of guards, or mages, or towering beasts - but instead all she saw was Cornelia. She was sitting on the throne like she hadn’t a care in the world, and brightened when she saw Edelgard approaching.

“Emperor!” Cornelia exclaimed cheerfully, clasping her hands. “How very lovely to see you! I wish you would have sent word that you were coming. I would have cleaned up for you.”

Edelgard was breathing heavily as she stared at Cornelia, advancing slowly towards the throne in the center of the room. Her eyes continued to dart around the room, searching for anyone that might be hidden in the shadows. She lifted a hand to wipe the dirt and sweat off her face, tightening her grip on her axe’s handle. It was feeding off her adrenaline, pulsating slightly with the life and energy of a Relic.

Cornelia seemed maddeningly unbothered, standing up and removing her gloves one by one. She tossed them to the side as she walked down the steps leading up to the throne, a smile of cold amusement spreading across her face as she regarded the Emperor of the Adrestian Empire, standing in her throne room and wielding an axe that demanded her head. She stopped a few feet ahead of Edelgard, tall and imposing, the kind of presence that could command a room just by standing in it.

“Little Edelgard,” she said, and her voice rang loudly across the throne room. All of a sudden the noise of the fighting outside the castle seemed to dull as Edelgard gritted her teeth, gripping Aymr with both hands. Cornelia was the only thing she could see. The only thing she could hear. The only thing that was standing in her way.

“I have to say, it’s very poor leadership to mount an attack on one of your own allies,” Cornelia said, smiling. “I have given you everything. What more do you want?”

“You,” Edelgard hissed. “Out of power. In the ground, where you and your friends belong.”

Cornelia cocked her head. “I’m confused. I could have sworn _ we _were friends.”

“I would never align with the likes of you,” Edelgard said. “Not after what you did to me. To my family.”

“Ah, your family,” Cornelia said lightly, sounding as though they were having a pleasant teatime chat. “I remember your family. Such sweet little children. And your father, utterly powerless to stop us. Just like you are now.”

Rage flared up in Edelgard’s chest, blind and unceasing. She let out a yell as she ran forward, putting all her weight into the axe swing that followed. Just as the axe would have hit her shoulder, Cornelia dissipated into thin air.

“What?” Edelgard gasped out, stumbling forward in confusion. There was a noise behind her and she turned to see Cornelia again, laughing out loud as her hands glowed with dark magic. There was a blinding purple flash and Edelgard was immobilized by a jolt of terror as a spell struck her square in the stomach.

The air was knocked from her lungs. Her vision went hazy and black as she crumpled to the floor, Aymr sent flying across the room and clattering to a stop at the base of the steps to the throne. Edelgard gasped for breath that did not come as the dark magic seeped into her, feeling light-headed and dizzy as she tried desperately to prop herself up on her hands and knees.

Through the ringing in her ears she could hear Cornelia walking towards her, the sound of her footsteps loud and sharp.

“Poor little girl, thinking she could play Emperor and win,” Cornelia cooed, circling Edelgard’s shuddering form like a vulture. “When will you learn? There are no winners and losers in this game. There is only us.”

Cornelia put her heel on the back of Edelgard’s neck, forcing her back to the floor. Edelgard groaned out, shutting her eyes tightly as air slowly began to return to her lungs. She had been in battle many times before, but this was the first time she had ever felt this kind of terror, this complete and utter helplessness.

“You’ve done wonderfully, young Edelgard,” Cornelia said, her voice sickly sweet. “Exactly as we knew you would. Unifying the three nations was never going to be an easy task and yet, here you are, so close to accomplishing it! So close to becoming the most powerful person in Fódlan.”

“It was never about me,” Edelgard managed to say, her voice low and raspy. Cornelia laughed, taking her foot off her neck.

“Of course it wasn’t,” she said. “But don’t you see? You’ve been playing _ our _ game this whole time. And I think we’ll take it from here.”

There was that same purple glow in Edelgard’s peripheral vision and her heart sank. She knew that Cornelia was readying another spell, and that this time she wouldn’t be so lucky. Her mind raced with all the things she had done wrong, all the regrets she would leave behind.

The people who would suffer, all because she had failed.

Win or lose - every path lead here, in the end.

Then, inexplicably, there was a shout. “Get away from her!”

Someone barrelled into the throne room and knocked Cornelia aside. Cornelia cried out as she stumbled and fell back, her spell skimming over Edelgard’s form and hitting a statue on the opposite side of the room instead. Edelgard lifted her head weakly to see Dimitri running into the throne room, Relic in hand as he stalked towards Cornelia.

“You!” Cornelia growled, finding her footing again. “You’re supposed to be dead!”

“Unfortunate for you,” Dimitri replied, brandishing his lance. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Cornelia looked between the two of them, her eyes wild. “You two - you two - ?”

“Yes, us two,” Dimitri said, stepping towards her as she backed away slowly. “You did your best to drive us apart, but you failed - just like you’re going to fail at this.”

“No,” Cornelia said, her voice growing higher. “No, no, the two of you were to _ destroy _ each other. You were destined to! This isn’t what was supposed to happen!”

“To hell with what was supposed to happen,” Dimitri spat, and leapt forward.

Cornelia dodged his attack just in time, baring her teeth and countering with a fire spell. Dimitri ducked out of the way, hissing as it clipped his shoulder. The two of them circled each other as they exchanged cautious blows, both wary to approach one another, and Edelgard realized suddenly that they were moving towards her. Cornelia wasn’t paying attention to her. She had the perfect position.

With every last vestige of strength in her body she managed to stand, her legs shaky and her heart pounding rapidly as her vision flickered in and out. A cursory glance told her that Aymr was too far away for her to grab now. There had to be another way.

There was another way.

Edelgard began to move towards the two of them, slowly but surely, even as every muscle in her body was aching, screaming at her to give up. She refused to give up. As long as she was still breathing, she would not give up.

Her fingers closed around the handle of the dagger strapped to her leg.

Cornelia was too preoccupied with keeping Dimitri at bay to notice her approaching. Edelgard drew her hand back when she reached the woman who had stolen her life from her and stabbed with all her might.

The dagger sank into her side so easily that Edelgard could have sworn she was another illusion. Cornelia’s eyes widened with shock as she gasped out at the impact. Dimitri took advantage of the moment to strike her in the chest with the full might of his lance. Cornelia fell backwards to the floor, sprawled out like a rag doll.

“Y - you - ” she managed to gasp out, staring up as Edelgard knelt over her body. “You - ”

“I suppose you didn’t know _ everything _ I would do, did you?” Edelgard snarled, roughly drawing the dagger from her side. Cornelia screamed as the blade exited her flesh, her muscles spasming.

Edelgard placed the dagger over Cornelia’s throat. 

“I win.”

Blood splattered across her face as the dagger clattered to the floor, blade now bent and covered in red. Cornelia’s body lay before her, small and fragile and mortal. Edelgard sat back on her knees, staring at the woman’s lifeless form. It didn’t feel real. None of it felt real.

There was a touch at her shoulder. Edelgard tore her gaze away from Cornelia to see Dimitri standing there, offering his hand to her.

“It’s over now,” he said softly, and there was no smile on his face but she could feel a quiet, disbelieving excitement emanating from him, just on the verge of spilling over.

Edelgard nodded silently in response, taking his hand and letting him help her up. He put a steady arm around her shoulders as she leaned on him, feeling exhausted again all of a sudden. Dimitri looked down at the dagger lying next to Cornelia’s body.

“You kept it,” he said.

“Of course,” Edelgard replied quietly.

The blade was bent irrevocably now, strained by the force that Edelgard had applied to it. It had, she thought, finally served its purpose.

“Would you like to take it?” Dimitri asked.

Edelgard shook her head. “I don’t need it anymore.”

There were people outside waiting for their king to return and usher them into a new dawn. She looked up at the sunlight shining through the windows, and it seemed to her that the world had never shone brighter than at that moment.

“Our new future is here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this shit is done. I have been working on it for a while now so it's pretty cool to finish it (even if I changed the plan a bunch along the way, just because... you know. The nature of writing)
> 
> Thank you all very much for reading!


End file.
